The Moon of the Hunter
by PinkMadame
Summary: Some lies are faint and some lies are white, but this lie is so sinister that it keeps them prisoner. An island made up of lies and twisted actions brings together two very distinct hedgehogs that must learn to work together in order to get out alive.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Hello everyone! I hope this story is of interest to you, as I am truly enjoying writing it. I believe I might have to change the rating of the story later on, but I shall see as time goes. :D **

**Disclaimer: No, I don't own any of the Sonic characters in this story. Sadly :(**

Shadow could see the man lying on the floor in front of him helpless, yet he didn't look at his face. It was always much easier this way. The man could not talk since his mouth had been forced shut by the three layers of duct tape they had wrapped around it, but Shadow did not care nor did he want to hear what his last words were going to be.

"Finish him Shadow!" he heard the commander order from behind him. '_If you were enough of a man you could easily do this without my help'_ he thought. But Shadow knew this is what they needed him for, to do their dirty work for them so that they could walk away from here without a drop of blood on them. He couldn't quite remember whether this was the third or fourth man lying in front of him with this fate, but didn't matter because this was work. This was hell. This was his new job with GUN. As far as Shadow was concerned the man in front of him had been well aware that his actions would lead him to where he now laid.

The dark hedgehog raised his hand slowly and allowed the power of his golden bracelet rings to flow through him. "Chaos Spear!" The energy flew right out of his hand ending the life of the man that now laid motionless in front of him.

"Good job Shadow. Remember, he knew exactly what would happen to him if he refused to follow orders." The commander said to Shadow as if trying to reassure him that he had done the right thing.

"I don't care." Shadow said coldly as he began to crack his knuckles to keep his hand from cramping.

"I hope you continue to think this way. This is why we knew we could count on you to help us make operation PCT happen. The numbers from the first operation were insufficient and we will be taking more samples. The process has already begun. You help us keep order around here so that this never reaches the surface. Absolutely no one can know about this and I'm glad you do not ask questions. Remember that Shadow, we don't want to be forced to remove your rings and power and have to terminate you." He warned in a stern tone.

"I guess." Shadow replied effortlessly. They were merely pathetic humans to him. "Unlike the other agents here I don't care if you take my rings. I have no family, and I have no weakness." He said coldly to the commander as he walked out of the room.

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"No Way!" The pink hedgehog cried in happiness as she began to hop up and down in her usual red dress and boots. She wasn't letting go of the letter that had brought her such great news. "SapphireIsland" she said to Cream who was sitting in front of her, "that must be the most beautiful place for a solo getaway!"

Amy was now 19 with slightly longer quills and Cream was no longer a child at 16 years old. Both girls had grown really close as the years had unfolded before them.

"Amy you're so lucky" Cream said, "I never win anything near as cool as that." The cream color rabbit had a smile on her face.

"Aww" Amy began, "this would've been so cool if it would've been more than just one ticket."

"It's okay Amy you deserve a getaway for yourself, it'll keep you from thinking about Sonic." The rabbit wore a playful smile on her face.

Amy blushed at Cream's comment. She was no longer madly in love with Sonic. To her, he was still a cool hedgehog and a pretty handsome one at that. However, she had finally grown tired of him not paying attention to her. Sure she wouldn't mind if Sonic decided to finally ask her out on a date because her heart would still say yes, but those years of her chasing after him every hour were over.

"Cream, you know I don't really think about Sonic that much anymore anyways" she said while sticking her tongue out at the rabbit who was accompanied by her chaos Cheese. "I rather focus on myself instead."

"Suuuure Amy. As long as you're happy." Cream said to her with a sweet smile. "Anyways" she began, "when do you leave and come back?"

"Hmmm well it says the plane takes off tomorrow morning at 7 and that the trip is 3 days and 2 nights. I hope I meet someone cool. Or maybe even Sonic will be there." Amy said with hope in her voice.

"Okay Amy." Cream giggled. "I'll meet you here at 6 and we'll take a cab together. I'll let you get some rest and I'll see you tomorrow." Cream waved to her friend.

Amy waved back as Cream reached for the doorknob to make her exit from Amy's apartment. Amy hurried to her bathroom upstairs and began to get ready for bed only to realize that she hadn't yet packed. '_Man I can't wait for tomorrow to come!' _She thought.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The two friends embraced tightly by the stairs leading up to the plane.

"You better take care Amy! Live a little." Cream said to her.

"Don't worry," the pink hedgehog smiled, "I'll call from the hotel as soon as I get there." And with that, Amy made her way up the plane. _'These are some long stairs. This plane is huge!' _The petite hedgehog thought as she made her way up the flight of steps. When she finally made it to the top she waved at her good friend one last time who returned the gesture instantly. She stepped inside of the plane and was surprised by its immense size. The large number of seats made her head feel dizzy. There was a man in a suit to her right and she thought he looked different from the usual flight attendant.

"Hello miss." He said while he extended his hand out towards her. "Can I see your boarding pass to make sure that you find your seat easily?" he asked.

Amy handed it to him and he motioned his hand for her to follow him down the plane. She didn't know why, but he gave her a strange feeling as if something was out of place. '_No need to worry. It's not like he's sitting next to me_.'

When they finally made it to her seat, Amy allowed herself a smile after seeing that she would be sitting next to a window. He then reached for her bags and lifted them up to the cargo area above the seats. "Have a nice flight miss." He said to her before leaving.

Amy made her way over to her seat and began to lean on the window. A few minutes remained before the plane took off of the runway and she was exhausted since most of her goodnight sleep had gone into packing. She let out a small yawn and made herself more comfortable allowing her thoughts to drift into emptiness.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The cream color rabbit couldn't hold back her tears as she listened to the news reporter give her the horrible news.

_According to the authorities, flight 78 who was on its way to SapphireIsland suffered a disastrous malfunction 45 minutes after the airplane took off the runway. The fans in charged of circulating the air to the engine shut off causing the engine to overheat. This was followed by the massive explosion of the airplane. Authorities continue to say that there are no survivors._

_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
_

Amy awoke to the shuffling of the passenger next to her left. She looked at him and noticed he wore a worried look on his face.

"Is something wrong?" She asked him as she slowly came back to her senses from the awakening of her nap.

"This is insanity." He said roughly. "I've never in my life been in a flight where they were required to take your cell phones and electronics."

"What?" Amy asked in confusion. She turned over to his left side and to her surprise the man that had showed her to her seat was standing on the walkway of their seats wearing sunglasses and an ear piece.

"Your electronics miss. Hand them over for the safety of this flight." The man said to her.

"Umm I'm sorry, but I don't even own any." She said truthfully.

He gave her a doubtful look and spoke something quietly onto the small microphone attached to his earpiece, too quiet for her to even make out what it was.

"Miss I'm going to have to ask you to stand up and come over to me." He said.

Amy was so confused. '_Is he kidding? What the heck did I do?'_

"Miss, time is valuable. Either you follow our orders or we'll be forced to take further action."

She was now both in shock and scared. She started to make her way over to him with her trembling legs as she squeezed through the two seats next to hers. When she got there, he grabbed her arm. "Stand still." He ordered.

Her heart started to beat fast. She was so confused and she couldn't think of anything that could have possibly landed her in trouble. He took out what looked like a metal detector and began to pass it in front of her. When it got to the golden bracelets on her wrists the metal detector began to beep.

"Miss, you are going to have to remove those." He ordered once more.

"What?" She asked again. '_Why the heck would he need my bracelets for?'_

He began to look impatient and reached for her hands yanking them off of her delicate wrists. "Hey!" the petite hedgehog protested as she reached for them, "Those are valuable to me give them back!" She yelled.

His grip on her small arm became harsher and he gave her a violent shook for her to stop yelling. Without a response, he put her precious golden bracelets in a basket next to his leg where she noted many cell phones and Ipods also laid. As he continued to pass the metal detector down her trembling backside she took a moment to look around the plane to see what else was going on. Her heart began to pump faster as she took in her surroundings. There were many men inspecting passengers for electronics like the one that was inspecting her and all of the other passengers seemed as frightened and clueless as she was.

"You can return to your seat now." He said to Amy as he began to move on to the row of seats behind theirs. She had no choice but to go to back to her seat, there was nowhere to run, nowhere to go, and nothing to use to call for help even if there was any signal.

'_What the heck is happening on this plane?'_

**I hope this story catches your interest and that you enjoy it. I have a whole plot behind this twist. Please let me know what you think. **

**-PinkMadame**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you to those of you that reviewed my story, it really motivates me to update sooner. I wrote a long chapter to hopefully show you more of the mystery behind this story. I hope that you continue to read it. :)**

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"I repeat. There will be no pushing, no shoving, and absolutely no running as you exit the ship." The captain said through the speakers of the plane just a few minutes after it had landed. "You must follow your row in a single file line and continue following until otherwise instructed. Failure to follow procedures will result in immediate termination."

_'I can't believe what I'm hearing_.'

Amy didn't know where she was and how long she had been on the plane for. She hadn't eaten in hours, but she couldn't feel the hunger in her stomach, just knots of nervousness. The pink hedgehog kept asking herself what was happening over and over. After the men on the plane had taken their electronics, they were not allowed to speak to their neighbors or make any noise or sudden movements because they were constantly being threatened to follow orders. It was Amy's row's turn to follow the line and walk out of the plane. To her surprise, the sky was dark when she finally made it outside since the windows on the plane had been closed after the men in suits took over it. It was windy and there was fencing around the crowd of passengers as if to keep them from escaping. The fences were high and they were topped with electrical wires. Amy could hear the sound of the waves and realized that they had in fact landed on an island, just not the one that they were made to believe they were going to. There were many bright lights along the fence leading up towards the center of the island. There were also many jeeps containing men with weapons and they were stationed a few feet outside of the fence. The pink hedgehog recognized the guards, they were all agents working for GUN. The sound of choppers flying above them kept ringing in her delicate ears. '_What kind of horrible place is this?' _The thought kept lingering in her head, but she had no way of answering it.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Shadow laid on his bed and stared at the white ceiling as he tried to make sense of his thoughts. Everything about this room seemed boring and suffocating to him. '_How long are we gonna be in this stupid island for anyways?' _He thought. '_The commander said that this was going to be an unpredictable job, but not being able to leave this island is starting to get beyond irritating_.' He could tell that this was going to be one of those nights where sleep was not going to come to him. '_Running around this stupid island sounds better than being stuck in this room.'_ With that thought in mind, Shadow got up and made his way towards the sink to splash some cold water on his face before making his way out of the white cell he called his room.

"Hey Shadow." Called an officer behind him as he made his way out of the building.

"What?" Shadow asked in an annoyed tone.

"The new 'arrival' is here, so I suggest you keep your distance. We don't want you to have to deal with that mess it can be quite….irritating." He said.

"Don't worry about me. I'm just going for a run tonight." Shadow said.

"May I also remind you Shadow that you are not allowed to leave the premises of this island. The commander has no tolerance for those who break the rules." The officer warned.

"Damn do they seriously pay you to constantly remind me?" Shadow spat back. "I know where the hell I shouldn't be. It's not my first day in this facility." And with that he walked towards the door to get checked out by the guard.

He began my run towards the beach, but he couldn't help noticing the bright lights and choppers that hovered around the main entrance of the building.

_'Wonder what this new arrival really is.'_He had been in this island with GUN for about three weeks, but he never cared nor asked what it was that they were doing here. The commander told him to not get involved and just do what was asked of him. '_Maybe it's time for me to find out what's going on around here. Starting with this 'arrival'._'

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

A breeze began to kick in from the shore, but the passengers from flight 78 still didn't know where they were or what they were doing. The more time passed, the more Amy began to calm down. She was still frightened out of her mind, but she knew it was hopeless for her to try anything. Even though there weren't that many soldiers around anymore the passengers were still fenced in. The choppers had left along with many soldiers, so it seemed to Amy that this was were they were going to stay all night. There were speakers along the barb wired fences. A voice ordered them to keep calm, stay away from the fences, and that there would be new orders for them in the morning.

The fragile pink hedgehog couldn't wrap her head around what this island really was.

'_Oh my gosh maybe it's an Island like the one in Jurassic Park and they're gonna feed us to dinosaurs...or maybe we were picked to be soldiers without having a choice, kind of like a draft. I don't know what to think anymore!'_ The more she thought the more she began to shiver. Her imagination was like a runaway train, once it got started it got beyond its rightful tracks.

"I have to think positive." She whispered to herself. "Hmmmm. If what they're doing here is bad, then I'm sure Sonic will show up. Yes Sonic! He would never let anything happen to me. He will find out that I am missing right away and come running to rescue me. Man I feel so much better. I just have to wait. Stand here with this crowd of people and wait. I'm sure he'll be here by morning." Amy told herself.

She felt a tap on her right shoulder and it caused her to turn around right away. It was a brown fox with a smaller golden fox standing next to him. "Are you alright miss? You seem cold, you keep shaking." He said to Amy. His voice had a hint of concern.

"Oh. Yeah I'm okay, just got the chills for a second." She replied.

"Do you have any idea what is going on here? Or are you as clueless as I am?" He asked in an even more worried voice.

"No not at all. I wish I did, but the more I wonder the more I confuse myself. None of this stuff makes sense. I feel like they're going to feed me to dinosaurs or something." Amy let out.

"What?" He seemed confused by her comment.

"Oh." She blushed. She hadn't realized how silly that must've sounded. "I mean yeah I have no clue what's going on." She tried to recover.

"Hmmm how did you get your ticket for that flight? Did you buy it?" he asked mysteriously.

"No. I ummmm won it actually. My friend Cream and I win stuff all the time because we fill out surveys and stuff." She answered trying to catch on to the mystery.

"That's quite strange. I didn't' buy our ticket either. Well, I had bought it online and my son and I were going to meet with my wife at SapphireIsland, but when I got there the man at the desk told me that there had been a mistake with the purchase of my ticket and that there would be another flight today. He also said that they needed to fill the seats. Then he surprised me when he said the tickets would be free." He said suspiciously.

"Oh, that does seem strange." Amy replied.

"But that's not the only strange thing here." He began to whisper. "The strangest thing is that all the people that I've talked to here didn't pay for their tickets. Many of them won them, kind of like you. And others were also told the same thing I was."

Amy felt a strange knot in her stomach again. She already had a feeling that this place was no paradise, but this took it up another level. The more time passed by, the stranger things got.

"Papa I wanna go see mommy. I want to go home." The fox boy pulled on his dad's pants to get his attention.

"Oh I'm sorry I didn't get your name." The man looked over at Amy and away from the boy.

"I'm Amy Rose." She said. "And yours?"

"I'm Michael. And this is my son Andy. I'm a doctor from Station Square and we were trying to catch up to my wife in SapphireIsland."

Andy seemed even more fragile than Amy. He was as frightened as she was if not more. He still looked adorable to Amy. She always liked kids and always wanted to have kids of her own, preferably with Sonic. Even though she knew that if she ever bore any children there was a big chance they would not be his.

Amy took a small step forward to be in front of Andy and stooped down to his level.

"Hey Andy. How old are you?" She asked him with a smile. She was hoping to be able to cheer him up a bit.

"I'm eight." he said in his small frail voice.

"And tell me Andy do you like to play sports?" She asked casually.

"Yeah I like baseball, but mostly I like to run. I wanna be like Sonic." He said.

"Hmm well baseball I don't know much about, but I do know Sonic." Amy said smiling.

"You do? Is he as fast as they say he is?" Andy asked anxiously with a smile.

"Oh he is even faster. He's gonna come and take us out of here you'll see." She said to him enthusiastically.

"Good." Andy replied cheerfully. "I really want to see my mommy. She's really sick."

"Oh she is? What's wrong?" Amy asked.

"She was on vacation and she had to go to the hospital because she got sick. They told her she has the cancer but I don't know what that is. They said she had to stay in that hospital so that they could do tests. Papa said that she would be okay when we saw her though." The fox boy said innocently.

Amy looked over to his dad and he had tears in his eyes, he was trying to hold them back. She felt horrible. '_The last thing they need is to be stuck in this place_.' Amy tried to keep her emerald orbs from watering as she turned her attention back to Andy to keep him from looking at his dad. "Don't worry." She said. "She will be so happy when she sees you." The pink rose smiled at the small golden fox attempting her best to keep him in his fantasy world.

"We should let Amy rest Andy. It's time for you to rest too." Michael said to him.

"But-" Andy let out.

"No buts buddy. Let's go find a place to sit down."

"I'll see you tomorrow Andy." Amy said to him. "Sonic will show up sometime soon, you'll see." She added.

"Okay Miss Amy." He smiled before turning away.

His father put his hand on Amy's shoulder before leaving and said; "Thank you, I try to keep him as hopeful as I can." he smiled.

"Not a problem." She smiled back. With that, Michael followed his son around the small whispering crowds of people that were beginning to form.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

About an hour had passed since the pink hedgehog had spoken to Michael and most of the passengers were either sitting or lying down in the dirt enclosed by the fencing. The barrier was very lightly guarded now, but no one dared to attempt an escape knowing how far GUN would go. The pink hedgehog was kneeling down by the fence. Her hands were grasping the metal in front of her as she pushed her face on the fence helplessly envisioning herself outside. '_Please hurry Sonic.'_

As she stared outside of the fence, her emerald eyes caught a movement. Her ears quickly perked up and her senses sharpened. Her pink ears flinched when she heard the unnatural movement of the trees nearby. Her green eyes swiftly followed the sound and spotted the creature responsible for the noises kneeling on one knee on a tree branch. The dark hedgehog on the tree was overlooking the fenced area with curiosity in his eyes.

"Shadow…" She whispered in a puzzled voice. '_He might be here to save us!'_

Amy looked around to see if there were any guards nearby before she attempted to get Shadow's attention. She got up from where she was kneeling and waved slightly towards the mysterious hedgehog in the trees.

"Come on Shadow look at me…" She whispered as she desperately tried to get his attention.

Her nervous heart almost stopped as his crimson eyes darted towards her with such intensity in his look. He slowly stood up, never taking his gaze off of her. Amy no longer knew if being spotted by Shadow was the right choice anymore. He effortlessly jumped off of the tree and into the bushes below it. Suddenly, he appeared in the shadows of the bushes in front of her. His face was as serious as it always was and his arms were resting on his sides with his hands in fists. He slowly approached her, but stayed hidden within the darkness of the bushes. Amy noticed he wore a black GUN uniform that blended in with his dark fur making him look as he always did.

"Sha-Sha-Shadow." Amy called nervously to the hedgehog that had suddenly appeared in the darkness in front of her.

"What the hell are you doing here?" He asked as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"I-I don't know. I was hoping you were here to help me." She confessed.

Shadow raised an eyebrow at her response. "You are no concern of mine." He said coldly. His words stung Amy as she tried to make sense of them.

"Then what are you doing here?" She asked. "What does GUN want with all of us? We were supposed to be on our way to Sapphire Island and the next thing we know we are stuck here being held hostage."

"I work here." He told her flatly. "As for what GUN wants with you, that isn't any of my business. Whatever you did to end up here is only a mere consequence of your own actions."

Amy didn't know Shadow that well. After the situation in ark, they didn't speak much. Amy knew Shadow was a secluded person. He kept to himself most of the time. She had always found him to be a mystery that she would never get to solve because she knew that if she ever wanted to try, he would never let her near. Even now as she stood weakly in front of him behind a fence she knew that he wanted nothing to do with her.

"But I haven't done anything Shadow." Her voice was weak and she wrapped her hands around the fence once more to pull herself closer. Her emerald eyes were beginning to water as she realized that the help she thought she had found was nothing but a disappointment.

"Don't lie to yourself." Shadow said coldly. "GUN doesn't take random people without a reason."

"But Shadow, I'm telling you the truth. Please help me." Amy said as the water departed her eyes and made its way down her face.

The sight made Shadow uncomfortable, but he didn't show it.

"I can't help you even if I wanted to." He turned around and began to walk away from her.

"Shadow wait, please." Amy whispered as loud as she could without drawing any attention from the other passengers. There was a hint of desperation in her voice and it made Shadow stop in he tracks, even though he kept his back turned towards her. "Do you remember the space colony ARK a few years ago? I did you a favor. I helped you remember who you really are." Amy's voice was beginning to crack. "I am only asking that you help me in return just this once."

There was silence between them for a moment, but it was soon broken by the sound of Shadow's foot steps as he walked away into the darkness of the bushes. The pink hedgehog began to sob as she slid down the fence and onto her knees. Her eyes were still focused on the spot were Shadow once stood. '_He abandoned me. And he doesn't even know what is going to happen to me.' _

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	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you to those who are reading this story and are hopefully enjoying it. I wrote a pretty long chapter to help set the scene a little better. Please let me know if I need to improve on anything!**

**To Elys: Thank you for letting me know about that, I appreciate you telling me. I did keep that in mind as I wrote this chapter and fixed it. Hopefully you see that towards the end. :)**

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The commander sat in his usual manager leather chair. He was looking over some paper work in his office, but he couldn't focus and instead spun his chair around to look at the view thorough the window behind his desk. He began to close his eyes but they quickly reopened when he heard the automatic door of his office slide open followed by a familiar set of foot steps.

"What is it Shadow?'" The commander asked without twisting his chair around.

"The people," Shadow began "who are they and what are they doing here?"

"I see you have been walking the beach." The commander began. "They are the new _arrival._"

Shadow crossed his arms in irritation at the lack of information in the commander's response.

"What do we want with them?" Shadow asked again.

"Since when are you one to ask questions, Shadow? This isn't why I hired you. I brought you here because you don't care."

"You brought me here to do your dirty work." Shadow said coldly. "I want to know why we're _really_ here."

"What's with the sudden spark of curiosity? You've never been interested in our work." The commander said.

"Simply boredom." Shadow replied.

The commander finally swung his large black leather chair around to face the black hedgehog. He looked into his crimson eyes and saw the demon that he had hired. He let out a sigh.

"Shadow, do you know what operation PCT stands for?" He asked as he looked away from the hedgehog's red eyes and down to his unfinished paper work. Shadow just stared blankly at the commander. "It stands for Population Control and Testing. We simply pick out a random sample of the population and well we…._experiment._"

"What do you mean experiment?" Shadow raised an eyebrow at his commander.

"We run tests on them. They simply become our…lab rats." He explained coldly.

"What kind of tests?" Shadow asked.

"Oh. All kinds Shadow." The commander replied with a dark grin on his face. "They are not the most…humane. There are different kinds of tests. Some are cognitive and others are physical. They all serve a purpose. We are discovering things in this facility that we never dreamed we could. The tolerance of pain, the way the body recovers after it has been damaged, and different kinds of hazardous medicines." The commander now looked back at Shadow who watched him without a change in his expression. "Shadow don't you see? Humanity is evolving."

"At what expense?" Shadow's voice showed hints of anger. "The lives of these random strangers?"

"Since when do you care about random strangers Shadow?" The commander asked with a chuckle. "You kill random strangers for a living."

"I didn't know these were the kinds of tracks you were using me to cover." Shadow's thoughts instantly went to the men he had been ordered to kill. They were all GUN workers. He couldn't help but wonder if they ended up dead at his feet because they had tried to help the people. "I don't want to be a part of this anymore." It wasn't in Shadow's nature to care about other people, but his conscious no longer wanted to kill those that had done nothing to deserve death.

"You don't have a choice now Shadow." The commander stood up from his chair. "Not if you want to keep your power rings and life. This should be the last set of people we experiment on. Give it a few more weeks and you'll be going home. If any of this leaves the island, the responsible ones will terminated. This is a top secret operation, and you chose to be a part of it."

"What happens to those people after these tests?" Shadow asked with annoyance in tone.

"Most of them will die during the experiments. Those that survive get terminated after the research is concluded. Cover up for their deaths has already been prepared. No one will be looking for them if they are already _dead_." The commander let out a small laugh. "You don't have to be here for much longer, but when you do get home make sure no one knows about this island."

Shadow turned around and left the commander's office without another word.

'_The pink hedgehog was right after all. She is innocent.'_

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Amy rested her back on the fence with her arms around her legs. Her face was buried in her knees with dry tears. There was a small hint of breeze in the air and it made her shiver. She took her face out of her knees and looked around. Mostly everyone was sleeping soundless, but they all seemed to be as cold as she was. She rested her chin on her knees and began to think.

'_These stupid bright fence lights sure make it hard to sleep around here. I mean, if they're gonna keep us hostage they might as well make it sort of a comfy stay.'_ She let out a small sigh. '_It's okay though, Sonic should be here by tomorrow. Cream will tell him I haven't called yet and he will go crazy looking for me.' _Amy allowed herself a small smile at the thought of Sonic rescuing her. _'If I ever see that black hedgehog again when I get out of here, I am gonna give him a piece of my mind. He'll be sorry he didn't help me.' _

The pink hedgehog looked up at the dark clouded sky. The moon was being covered by the overwhelming dark clouds. Suddenly, everything was darkness. All of the lights on the fencing had shut off completely followed by a few screams of confusion in the crowd. Amy got up rapidly and began to look around in fear. Her emerald eyes couldn't observe much because all of the light had gone away and there were too many clouds in the sky. _'What's happening?'_

Some of the people began to run around and a few bumped into her. Panic was beginning to get the best of her when suddenly she felt a pair of arms engulf her around her waist. The surprise made Amy want to scream, but one of the arms quickly left her waist to cover her mouth. Amy couldn't see her attacker. She was too surprised to react or try to fight back and so she did the first thing that popped into her mind instead. She opened her jaw and bit into the hand that was attempting to keep her from yelling. She soon regretted it when the hand didn't let her free causing her attacker to growl in anger. He picked her up by her waist and tossed her over his shoulder. Amy felt him begin to run quickly and before she knew it they were in the air on the fence. The pink hedgehog was mortified of heights and immediately stopped her attempts to fight back. She closed her eyes instead, but soon reopened them when she felt her attacker jump over the fence with her still on his shoulders. He began to run with her at an extremely fast pace into the jungle of the island. Amy was petrified and wouldn't move a muscle until she felt her taker throw her on the grass.

"Owwwwwww" Amy complained.

"What the hell was that?" She heard an angry voice ask. The pink hedgehog looked up immediately and saw a familiar silhouette.

"Shadow!" She yelled in glee as she got up to hug him. He instantly pulled out of her surprise embrace by taking a few steps back. Shadow was the kind of person that preferred to remain untouched. He looked back at her with a questionable look. "I knew you weren't so heartless. I knew you'd rescue me eventually!"

"Can you stop yelling?" Shadow asked annoyed.

"Okay okay I'm not yelling at you. I'm just trying to say thank you." Amy said happily. Shadow couldn't see much of her face very well, but he knew that she was smiling out of her wits.

'_Why is she so damn happy?' _He thought. "Don't thank me yet." He replied shortly. "And don't ever bite me again if I try to shut you up."

"Geez okay. You're so grumpy. How was I supposed to know that it was you who was taking me? I should've gotten a warning before you grabbed me and threw me all over the place." Amy said with both hands on her hips.

"If I knew you were going to lecture me on my rescuing style then I should have very well left you there Amy." Shadow crossed his arms.

Amy just looked at him and took her hands off of her hips. _'Well at least he did rescue me.' _She thought_. _"Well thank you Shadow." She said with a smile. "Soooooo why the sudden change of heart?" Her curiosity let out.

Out of the corner of his crimson eyes, Shadow saw the bright lights turn back on at GUN's base. Amy followed his gaze and her smile quickly turned into a frown when she took in the view.

"Damn it. I knew they'd be quick to fix the power outage, but not this quick." Shadow said. He turned back to Amy. "We have to keep moving."

"Moving? Where?" Amy suddenly asked with fear in her voice at the thought of being in danger again.

"I don't know yet. I thought we'd have more time. We have to move to the other side of the island. Once they count and know you're missing they will come and hunt you." He told her. He looked around to try and point out where he was on the island. "This way." He turned away from the base and began to run at a slow pace.

"Right." Amy said as she began to follow.

Amy chased Shadow through the dark jungle for about five minutes before slowing down her pace. "Wait Shadow!" She pleaded, but the black hedgehog kept running at the same pace. Amy began to get irritated when she noticed that he wasn't stopping. She forced herself to speed up, but Shadow was still getting away from her view. "Shadow, I said wait!" Amy screamed. The dark hedgehog's ears flinched and he came to a sudden halt. Amy ran to catch up to where he was standing. Her heart was beating fast from the run and her breathing was heavy.

"What's your problem?" Shadow asked when Amy caught up to him.

"M-My problem?" An irritated and exhausted Amy asked. "My problem is I haven't eaten all day and you are running really freaking fast expecting me to be right behind you. That's my problem." She bent her body forward and rested her hands on her knees to try to catch her breath.

Shadow crossed his arms and looked at her. "I was running slowly so that you could keep up. It's not my fault you're weak." He told her flatly.

Amy looked up at Shadow while still bending over to catch her breath. "Can we like take a break for a minute? I don't feel so well." She could see Shadow's irritation.

The black hedgehog didn't reply and instead walked towards the nearest tree and leaned against it. He kept his arms crossed and bent his left knee to place his foot against the tree bark. There was more light in the jungle now since most of the clouds had moved on allowing the moon to shine down on the two hedgehogs. Amy straightened herself out and walked towards the tree in front of the one Shadow was leaning on. She sat at the foot of it with her back leaning against it and pulled her knees close to her chest to wrap her arms around them. The pink hedgehog looked up at Shadow who was looking back at her with his crimson orbs. It gave Amy a chill down her spine to see how much power and intensity laid within them. She examined the dark hedgehog standing before her. The petite hedgehog noticed that he hadn't changed much since she had last seen him. The red marks on his quills were as red as ever and she could tell that he was in good shape. She did find him to be quite attractive, but quickly pushed the thought out of her head to keep herself from blushing.

"What are you looking at?" Shadow interrupted Amy's thoughts.

"I ummm should be asking you the same question." Amy retorted.

"I'm waiting for you to catch your breath and get back up." He said shortly.

"Shadow I don't feel too well. I have a headache, I'm thirsty, I'm hungry, I'm tired, I'm cold, I'm-"

"Annoying." Shadow cut her off.

"Hey well you try not eating the whole day, get kidnapped, chase after an irritating black hedgehog and see how you feel." Amy said as she stuck her tongue out at Shadow.

"Surely I'm not that irritating if you're trying to stick by me so much." Shadow said with a small smirk on his face. "Besides," he began to examine his surroundings, "you can quit your whining now. We can probably stay the night here. It's not safe to travel through the jungle at night. There're way too many reptiles around, some can be extremely poisonous." He looked at Amy and saw how the word reptiles made her flinch. "Don't worry too much. Just keep an eye out for poisonous snakes and spiders. There aren't many big predators around. I ran into a panther once, but those are rare since the island isn't so big." He warned. Amy swallowed what felt like a giant gulp after listening to Shadow's warning, but nodded slightly to show him that she understood. "Now wait here. I'll be right back." He pushed himself off of the tree and began to leave.

Amy got up alarmed at the thought of being alone in a jungle full of reptiles even if it was only for a mere second. "Shadow wait! Where are you going? Please don't leave me here all alone." There was worry in her voice, but Shadow kept walking until he disappeared in the darkness.

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"Ughhhhh that hedgehog!" Amy said to herself. "Why did he leave me all alone in a place full of poisonous things?" She cringed at the thought. She decided to walk around the small area that Shadow had decided to pass the night in. Her thoughts drifted to the dark hedgehog. '_I wonder if he really finds me that annoying. Where did he go anyway?' _Amy's steps came to a halt as she got lost in her thoughts. She looked at the tree that Shadow had been leaning against earlier. The pink hedgehog felt something slimy on her arm, but shrugged it off as the thoughts of the dark hedgehog kept running through her head. _'I must admit he is a good looking guy. Why is he always so mysterious?' _The slime Amy felt on her arm got heavier and she tried to brush it off again, but her eyes were still fixed on the tree where Shadow had been. She finally lost patience with her arm and looked over to it only to find a green snake attempting to wrap itself around her.

"Ahhhhhh!" Amy screamed at the sight. Her whole body began to shiver in fear, but she was unable to move. Her trembling leg took a step back but she ended up tripping over the roots of the tree behind her. Her eyes began to water uncontrollably and she began to sob. She froze in the hope that the snake would slider away from her body and onto the tree or the ground. The green reptile slowly made its way onto Amy's shivering leg and began to slider up towards her thigh. The pink hedgehog leaned her head back against the tree to keep herself from looking at the snake even though she could feel it on her body. Her face was pale and wet by her running tears. She looked straight ahead and saw Shadow approaching with green sticks in his arms.

"Shadow!" Amy screamed, but the flinch of her body was enough to set the snake off making it dig its fangs into the side of Amy's right thigh. "Ahhhhh!" Amy yelled in pain and horror as she hastily crawled away from the snake that was now slithering away into the grass by the tree.

After seeing Amy's reaction, Shadow dropped the plants he was carrying and rapidly made his way towards the pink hedgehog who was laying on her left side on the ground.

"What the hell is the matter with you?" Shadow asked alarmed as he looked at the petite hedgehog's upset face.

"It bit me Shadow." Amy began to cry. "The green snake bit me and now I'm going to die." Tears began to pour down her fragile face.

Shadow rolled his eyes at her expression. "Where?" He scooted back trying to look for the bite.

"O-on my thigh." Amy's shivering hand pointed towards the side of her upper right thigh that was covered by the skirt of her red dress.

Shadow felt a bit of uneasiness at the thought of what he was about to do, but knew he had no other way. "This might hurt, but try to keep yourself from yelling. We don't want to draw any attention." Shadow warned.

Amy only nodded slightly with worry on her face. As soon as Shadow saw her nod he pulled Amy's dress up and examined the bite mark. This made Amy blush and the red on her cheeks only turned brighter when she saw Shadow wrap his hand around her thigh and bring his lips up to her wound. She cringed at the pressure that she felt from the bite and new tears began to make their way down her face. Shadow took his lips off of the bite mark and turned away to spit the venom off to the side. He repeated the process two more times and while doing so he could feel the trembles running though Amy's body. Once he was done, he placed her leg down gently and got up.

"Don't move." He warned as he began to walk away.

"Wait! Don't leave me again." Amy pleaded.

"I'll be right back." Shadow said over his shoulder as he disappeared into the darkness once more.

"That's what you said last time." Amy mumbled to herself.

Shadow appeared again in less than a minute and Amy felt relieved. He had a few green leaves in his hand as he walked over to her. He kneeled by her again and placed a leaf on her bite mark.

"Make sure you put pressure on it. It might swell up a bit tomorrow, but since the venom is out you shouldn't feel that sick." Shadow explained.

Amy nodded as Shadow got up and turned away.

"Oh and Shadow." Amy's voice stopped him. "Thank you, again." He continued to walk towards the green sticks he had dropped earlier. "What are those anyway?" Amy asked.

Shadow picked them up and brought them towards the pink hedgehog who was now sitting up by the tree.

"These plants are useful." He told her as he held one out to her. "They look like bamboo but if you break the top like this," He showed her, "water comes out. In one of your many complaints you said you were thirsty." He told her in a teasing voice. "This is enough to keep us hydrated."

Amy gave him a half smile after hearing his remark. She was beginning to get used to Shadow's personality.

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Amy had fallen asleep for about two hours by the tree when the coldness around her woke her up. Her eyes began to adjust and she saw Shadow sitting at the foot of his tree near a small fire. He leaned against the trunk with his left arm resting on his bent left knee. He starred at the fire in deep thought as if looking for an answer, yet he did not display any worry. His crimson orbs glowed as the reflection of the flames danced in them. The pink hedgehog got up and felt a sharp pain on her thigh from the snake bite.

"Ahhh." She moaned, but continued to limp towards the small fire Shadow had lit. His red eyes flicked towards her as she delicately placed herself in front of the fire. She could feel his strong gaze on her and it made her feel weaker than she already was.

"It'll feel tender for a day or two. You will have to get used to it." He told her.

Amy nodded back to Shadow. She felt a bit shy as he looked at her. Everywhere Shadow went his confidence and attitude made it feel as if he owned everything, including this jungle. Amy looked up at him and he held her gaze for the longest second until he turned his red eyes back to the fire.

"Sooo Shadow," Amy began with her normal cheerful voice, "what's the plan now?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out." He replied in his usual flawless tone.

Amy found his voice to be different and interesting. Everything he said left her wanting to ask a question.

"So why did you rescue me after all?" Amy asked with curiosity in her tone.

"I found out you were innocent." He told her, still looking at the fire. It was not in Shadow's nature to be kind towards others. Amy could see that.

"See, I told you I was." She said in-a-matter-of-fact tone.

"You brought up the ARK earlier. How did you know that you helped me recover memories that were once lost inside my head?" He asked.

"I ummm talked to Rouge a while back. She told me that it was because of me that you remembered your promise to Maria, who she told me had been an important person in your life. I had no idea at the time of the ARK, but she told me you mentioned it to her once on a mission for GUN and she just kind of thought I should know." Amy blushed. "I know I spoke out of term back there, but I needed to say something for you to even think about helping me." She confessed.

"Hmmm." Shadow thought for a second. "I didn't realize Rouge couldn't keep her mouth shut. I guess there's no harm in you knowing that." He told her. "I thought saving your life would repay that favor."

"My life?" Amy asked in confusion. "They were gonna kill me back there?" Fear was present in her voice.

"Much worse than that." He looked into her eyes again. "They were going to experiment on you, not the kind of experiments that you are familiar with. Eventually, if the experiments didn't kill you they were going to do it themselves." He told her bitterly and watched how every word sparked a new level of fear in her emerald eyes.

"But-but they can't do that." She was attempting to convince herself more than anything. "They can't kill all of us. They would come looking for us eventually. I know Sonic would."

"Cover up for your deaths is already out there." He reassured her.

Amy looked into the fire and thought about Andy and his father Michael. "We have to go back." She said quietly.

Shadow heard her, but ignored her completely.

"Shadow we have to go back." She said it louder as she looked into his crimson orbs.

"There's no way we can go back and besides, I don't owe them anything. It's just something we'll have to live with." He told her coldly.

"So that's it then?" There was anger in her voice. "You only rescued me because I was a pending favor?" She felt a bit of hurt inside of her.

"Why else?" His red eyes pierced into her green ones. He could see the sadness in her face and although it made him feel somewhat uncomfortable it was unlike his character to care.

"Well then I'm going back." She said determined.

"Hmph. I'd like to see you try with that leg of yours." He almost let out a small chuckle at the thought. "But if you do decide to go, you are on your own. I did my part in this and I don't yet know how badly I have damaged myself with GUN once they find out I'm not in the base. Whoever your met back there, you might want to start forgetting about them now."

Amy felt tears beginning to form in her eyes. "But why?" She asked again. "How can you be so heartless?" Tears began to glide down her cheeks.

The sight made Shadow feel a bit uneasy. He looked at her with a questionable look. _'Why the hell is she crying?'_

"Please Shadow, help me help them." Amy pleaded with a sincere look.

_'Ugh why is she doing this?' _Shadow's personality was demanding him to fight back. "Look it's not that simple. You can't expect to go in there and rescue everyone like it's the damn carnival. I don't even know what's going to happen to me in these next few days for helping you." He said flatly.

Amy relaxed a little. "Well what are you planning to do with me then?" She asked.

"I was thinking we could head to the north-east shore and take over a lightly guarded vessel, preferably one that self navigates. It can transport you back to a beach in Station Square. What you decide to do from there on is your choice." He explained.

"What if I want to go and get help once I get there?" She looked at the dark hedgehog questioningly.

"I don't know how that will benefit you or them." He looked in the direction of GUN's base. "Either way, it's your decision. In the end, you might end up killing me for doing so, but then again I might have already started that process." Shadow got up and began to walk away.

'_Kill him? GUN is going to kill him? They can't kill Shadow. He's too strong. He could probably take on all of them if he wanted to.' _Amy's eyes followed Shadow's path. "Wait, where are you going now?" She asked worriedly.

"Surely you don't have to freak out every time I take a walk." He replied sharply. "I'm just going to go look for some firewood. Just keep an eye out for snakes, especially the red and yellow kind." He warned.

Amy became terrified at the thought. "Just umm hurry back. Please." She pleaded even though Shadow had already vanished into the jungle.


	4. Chapter 4

**Here's another chapter :). I did decide to change the rating of the story to M for what might happen in the future, but I do hope that it doesn't affect those of you reading the story.**

**Kane'sRightHand: Thanks for letting me know about that, I am not much of an outdoors girl haha. I just wanted to break the ice between the characters. I guess TV can really rot your brain!**

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"Count them again." The commander ordered the soldier that stood in front of him.

"But sir, we have counted twice. There is someone missing." He informed.

"I said count them again, damn it!" The commander growled.

The soldier took a step back at the commander's reaction. "Y-yes sir!" He saluted his officer and made an about-face before walking away from him.

The commander stood at the tower that overlooked the area where the passengers were held captive. He squinted his dark eyes as he searched the area looking for any clues that would lead to the power outage and the missing person. _'How did you escape? Where are you? I will find you and when I do, I will kill you myself.' _He looked at his digital watch which read 3:36 AM.

"Sir!" Called a man from behind him. "We know who is missing." He informed. The commander quickly turned to face the soldier that approached him with a small digital tablet in his hands. "We matched every single passenger to their boarding pass picture, except this one." He handed the tablet over to his commander. He grasped it from his hands with irritation and examined the picture of the smiling pink hedgehog.

"You mean to tell me this small girl was able to climb those high fences with spikes in a matter of seconds?" He asked angrily.

"U-uh it appears so, sir." He answered nervously. "We are still working on trying to get the night vision cameras back on to examine the incident, but the power outage damaged them pretty bad."

"Find her then! She shouldn't be too far. She is probably alone and scared in the Jungle." He ordered. "I want you to bring her back to me alive immediately." He looked at her picture once more. "Amy Rose, huh? She's quite a pretty thing. She shouldn't go to waste, don't you think?" He asked with a dark grin on his face.

"Sir." The soldier nodded in return.

The commander handed the tablet back to him. "If you fail to bring her back to me within 24 hours, call Shadow. He should have no problem hunting her down." He ordered.

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The pink hedgehog could feel a few rays of sun warm up her radiant pink fur. She stretched slowly in an attempt to shake the numbness she felt away. She opened her glistening emerald orbs, but squinted at the transformed jungle in front of her. The trees were much more visible and greener now and the jungle no longer looked as frightening as it did the night before. She sat herself up slowly and looked around for the dark hedgehog. Her heart began to beat fast when she noticed that he was nowhere to be seen.

"Shadow..." She called quietly as she looked around and waited for an answer. "Shadow" She called again a bit louder. Her heart began to beat faster when she saw that there was no answer from the jungle. '_What if they found him when he went to get firewood last night and are holding him captive? No they couldn't catch Shadow, he's too fast. Maybe even faster than Sonic.' _Her thoughts were only making her more anxious. "Shadow!" She yelled. There was still no answer. Worry began to display on her face.

Amy's heart almost stopped when the dark hedgehog she was calling after landed right in front of her on one knee from above. Amy was about to say something when she saw Shadow hold his right pointer finger up to his lips signaling her to stay quiet.

"What did I say about keeping a low profile?" Shadow's crimson eyes pierced her green ones. The closeness of his body made Amy blush. Shadow noticed the unusual pink on her cheeks and immediately got up to take a step back.

"Shadow where were you?" Amy asked with concern in her voice.

"Since when are you so worried about me?" Shadow arched an eyebrow.

"I uh wanted to know because you have to take care of me. I'm hungry and my leg hurts." She crossed her arms almost demandingly.

"Hmph. Since when did I agree to be your baby sitter?" He asked slightly amused at her requests. "I could very well leave you all alone in this jungle. You could die from anything really, by the looks of how fragile you are."

Amy swallowed hard, but kept her gaze focused into Shadow's daring eyes. "You wouldn't. You haven't finished repaying me that favor, remember?" She was attempting to form a half smile even though she felt anxious at the thought of Shadow leaving her behind.

"If you behave I won't have to consider it." Shadow smirked slightly. He knew he had the power. Whatever he said would go.

"Well fine, but if I am to remain alive I need to eat. I have hardly eaten anything!" Amy demanded again.

Shadow rolled his eyes at her. "I guess you were so worried looking for me that you didn't notice the fruit I placed next to you." His eyes shifted towards the fruit on Amy's left side.

Amy followed Shadow's intimidating eyes and saw that there had been bananas, berries, water plants from the night before, and a red fruit that resembled a tomato right next to her. "Oh." Amy blushed at how demanding she had been for something that had already been taken care of. "Thank you, Shadow." She looked up at him with a full smile.

Shadow got one of those feelings of uneasiness again. '_Ugh why is she always smiling? It's so damn contagious it makes me sick._' It wasn't in Shadow's nature to smile anywhere near as often as the pink hedgehog did. "Well don't look at me, start eating. We have to move soon." He ordered.

Amy was beginning to notice how her smiles would sometimes put Shadow on edge and she smiled to herself again as she grabbed some bananas to satisfy her hunger.

Shadow just stood a few feet away from her with his arms crossed as he waited for her to eat. "They have already found out you're missing. They have sent out a squad to hunt you down." He told her. Amy's appetite began to fade as she heard the news. "I know the commander far too well. He's going to want you alive if they catch you. What he will do with you might be worse than the original experiments they were going to perform on you."

'_How can he say all this so easily?'_ Amy stopped eating and her smile had completely vanished.

"Are you done?" Shadow asked.

Amy nodded in response.

"I'm not so sure how we're going to move through this jungle with your sore leg. You were already clumsy and slow enough as it was." Shadow smirked slightly. He found it somewhat enjoyable to make fun of the pink hedgehog.

Amy shot him a look. "Well I see you're in a better mood today." She stuck her tongue out at him playfully.

"You're so weird." He said.

"And you're so grumpy." She replied.

"I thought you had just pointed out my great mood."

"Oh no, you in a great mood? I have yet to see that one. I said better mood, which is a far step from where you're usually at." She crossed her arms.

"Well how about you stop examining my mood and use that pink bubblegum head of yours to give me a suggestion as to how we're going to travel?" The slight smirk was still on his face. Amy found his smile to be a rare sight, quite an enjoyable one. She shot Shadow another look after she processed what he had said.

"Well since I'm the injured one, you have to carry me around." She demanded.

Shadow raised an eyebrow at her request. "I would much rather drag you around instead."

Amy's expression showed some slight pouting and annoyance. Suddenly it changed to sadness. "But Shadow," she said innocently, "I can't really walk. That's mean." There was a frown on her face.

This made Shadow uncomfortable. "Well I guess carrying isn't the worst thing ever." He let out in a defeated tone, knowing that there was no other way. He saw how Amy's face changed back to cheerfulness with a slight blush on her cheeks. "Don't get too excited yet, it might be a bumpy ride."

Amy nodded with a smile on her face. Shadow walked over towards her and reached his hand out to her to help her get on her feet slowly. Once she was up, he turned away from her a kneeled for her to hop on his back. _'Why the heck does it have to be me in this situation?' _He definitely wasn't used to this. He felt as if his personal space was being invaded. He wasn't used to being around anyone this much, Rouge was his closest companion, but they hadn't talked since he got transferred into the facility on the island.

"Hang on. We need to cover a lot of ground fast to get to the north-east beach by nightfall." Shadow told her.

"Okay." Amy replied before they took off into the mysteries of the jungle.

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"Can we take a break now, Shadow?" Amy whined. Shadow had been making his way through the jungle for about an hour and a half. After hearing the pink hedgehog whine again he came to a sudden halt in front of a big dry branch and kneeled to set her down. "I can't keep going on forever you know. It's careless of you to ignore my request to rest." She said in a whiney tone.

Shadow turned around to face the pink hedgehog. "Excuse me?" He arched an eyebrow. "You're not even walking." He let out a low growl of irritation. "And you aren't exactly the lightest thing ever."

Amy gasped at his comment. "Well you aren't the most comfortable thing ever. I thought you were strong. Sonic never complains when he carries me away from danger." She crossed her arms.

Shadow leaned down to meet Amy's gaze. His powerful crimson eyes made her anxious. "Look again." He warned her. "I'm not your Sonic the Hedgehog am I?" He asked. "Don't question my strength. I am more powerful than you will ever know. Besides you were the one that needed a break, not me."

"If you're really as powerful as you say you are, then why aren't you helping me rescue all of those people back there?" She asked.

"It's not as easy as it looks." He's voice was serious. "Do you see these rings?" He showed her his wrists. "They control my power. I can control them, but only to a certain extent. GUN has full access and control to them. When I fell down to Earth after the incident in the ARK colony they got a hold of my unconscious body. They helped me get better, and so I agreed to work for them as an agent. However, the price I paid was a great one. They did things to me that I don't yet understand. My commander threatens me all the time, but I have yet to see how much damage they can do to me." He explained with irritation in his tone.

Amy suddenly felt bad. She had been mad at Shadow before for not helping her carry out her wishes, but now she understood his actions. "Oh." She said timidly. "I'm sure they can't really do anything to you Shadow. They're probably just trying to scare you." She said with a weak smile on her face.

"Who are you trying to convince? You or me?" He asked with a questionable look.

Thunder came roaring from the sky and both hedgehogs looked up. The dark clouds above them were beginning to conceal the sun.

"Just what we need." Shadow growled sarcastically. He looked at Amy again. "Are you ready to keep going now?" He asked.

Amy nodded in response causing Shadow to turn away and kneel in front of her. The pink hedgehog grabbed on to Shadow before they took off into the jungle once more.


	5. Chapter 5

**Here's another chapter! I'm so glad to hear that you guys are enjoying this story! I get really motivated when I read your reviews :D**

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Heavy rain was pouring down on the two hedgehogs as they made their way through the jungle. Shadow could feel Amy trembling on his back. The thought of having her on his back made him uncomfortable enough as it was.

"Sha-Sha-Shadow," Amy's weak voice let out, "Ca-can we stop now, please?"

"Hang on." Shadow told her. He slowed his pace to look for a drier place to set her down. '_Damn this isn't good. She's burning up I can feel it.'_

Shadow made his way towards a large tree that blocked most of the rain fall and kneeled to set Amy down by the trunk. He looked at her and noticed she looked miserable. He took off his right glove with his teeth and touched her forehead to estimate her temperature.

"You have a fever." He told her as he put his white glove back on. "It's probably because of your bite and the cold."

Amy's weary green eyes looked up at Shadow. "I-I'm sorry." She said. Shadow raised an eyebrow at her apology. "I know you don't want to take care of me." She admitted.

Shadow wanted to agree with her, but there was something about the way she looked that kept him from doing so. "Don't worry about me." He said. "You should just worry about yourself right now."

Shadow got up and looked around. He walked to his right, but Amy's weak voice stopped him. "Pl-please don't leave me, Shadow." She reached out to him.

The dark hedgehog turned around to face her. "Don't worry," he's voice was much kinder than usual, "it wont take me long."

Shadow made his way around the jungle in search for large palm tree leaves to make a small shelter from the rain. _'Ugh why do I feel bad for her? She looks so weak and miserable.'_

Amy felt relieved at the sight of Shadow returning with several palm tree leaves. He approached the site where he had set Amy down and used the leaves and string he had collected from other trees to build a small shelter. He made a few trips back into the jungle to get sticks to support the leaves up. Every time he did Amy worried that he wouldn't come back. She watched him work as rain drops made their way down his dark fur. Once he was done he sat to the right of the fragile pink hedgehog. He leaned against the large tree trunk under the shelter he had assembled and bent his right knee to rest his arm on it.

"Si-si-since when are you so familiar with the jungle?" Amy's trembling voice asked as she turned her head to face him.

Shadow looked straight ahead into the never-ending maze of green trees. "I've been on a lot of missions for GUN. You eventually learn about all the different kinds of environments." He replied.

Amy didn't want him to stop talking to her. His voice was soothing and she felt so cold even though her head was burning up. There was so much she didn't know about him, but she didn't know where to start unraveling the mystery. She didn't know how long they had traveled for already and even though the sun was missing within the clouds in the sky, it didn't seem that it would be out there for much longer.

"Sh-Shadow, do you-" The sick hedgehog began.

"Go to sleep Amy." Shadow cut her off in a calm voice.

Amy thought for a second. _'He might murder me for this, but I'm so tired.'_ She leaned her body towards Shadow and put her warm head on his lap.

This confused the dark hedgehog and he immediately tensed up. '_What the hell is she doing?'_

Amy placed her left hand on Shadow's leg to make herself more comfortable. The way his body felt against her head comforted her. She found his scent to be different from any that she had ever encountered. Even though they were in a wet jungle, she thought he smelled clean with a small hint of unknown spice. She thought his scent was pleasant, yet there was mystery behind it. _'He smells so nice.'_

"I'm not a pillow you know." He interrupted her thoughts.

"Y-yes I know." She said quietly. "But I'm r-really tired."

Shadow felt a sense of awkwardness inside of him, but just kept his crimson eyes focused on the dim and wet jungle. He seemed to feel bad for the pink hedgehog and so he kept himself from objecting.

"Do you ev-ever sleep, Shadow?" Amy asked timidly. The shivering of her body was slowly going away with the help of Shadow's warmth, but the fever was still making her head fuzzy.

"Of course I sleep, Amy." He told her. "It seems that you have kept me from doing so lately."

"Really? W-Why?" She curiously asked.

"Because I have to constantly be on watch to make sure that you don't do anything stupid." His tone was a bit playful.

Amy rolled her pink head on Shadow's lap to look up at him and shoot him an offensive look. Shadow noticed, but kept himself from looking down at her.

"Well maybe y-you should sleep now." She told him.

"Just go to sleep Amy." He sighed.

Amy stayed in thought for a second, but then shut her eyes in an attempt to fall asleep. She rolled her head back to where it first was and curled her body to keep herself as warm as possible.

"J-just don't leave me tonight Shadow." She whispered before drifting into a slumber.

Shadow found her request to be a bit strange, but brushed it off. _'The fever must be going to her_ head.'

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The darkness engulfed the jungle making it look like a treacherous place, yet serenity was present within it. The storm seemed to have passed leaving the dark clouds in the sky to drizzle over the island. Shadow's eyes shot open when he heard the sound of a branch snapping. He's ears perked up in search of the unnatural sound. He could hear footsteps in the distance that belonged to more than one carrier.

_'Damn it they're here.' _He looked down at the sleeping pink hedgehog in his lap. _'No time for a calm awakening.'_

He placed his hand tightly around her mouth and shook her. Amy awoke in panic and instantly tried to scream, but soon recognized the dark hedgehog above her. She noticed the way Shadow shook his head in disapproval as she tried to talk. He stood her up and brought his lips close to her ear.

"Shhhhh." He whispered quietly. "We have to go. GUN officers are hunting you down."

Amy became alarmed and her senses rushed back to her head. Her fever was now in a very mild state and the shivers had left her fragile pink body to rest. Shadow scooped her up and tossed her over his right shoulder without a warning. Amy gasped at the sudden movement, but tried her hardest to remain quiet. He carefully stepped out of the small shelter he had built earlier without making a sound. The darkness of the jungle made it hard to see where he was headed, but he knew that the priority was to get away form the soldiers that were hunting the pink hedgehog.

After slowly making his way through the jungle for a couple of minutes he set Amy down on a branch.

"I need you to wait here." He said quietly.

Amy swallowed hard at his request. "No Shadow, please don't leave me." She pleaded.

"I need to see where they're headed. I can't do that quietly while carrying you around." He said quietly. _'Ugh why do I feel the need to explain myself to her?'_

"Okay…" Amy agreed sadly.

Shadow quickly vanished into the dark jungle in the direction where they had just came from. Amy wrapped her arms around her chest to keep the cold away. She looked around nervously, but the hissing sound coming from behind her made her stiff up completely. She slowly twisted her body around to face the noise. Her heart sunk at the sight of a pair of glowing eyes. Amy stood up ignoring the pain of her bite on her right leg and slowly began to backtrack in the opposite direction. The glowing eyes scooted closer to her allowing the dim moonlight to reveal a black panther behind them.

_'Just my luck. Shadow desserts me just in time to get eaten by a panther. I'm gonna die I just know it.' _Her body began to shake again. _'Well I might as well try to survive while I can.' _And with that thought in mind the pink hedgehog took off running away from the fierce black panther that followed. The pain in her leg didn't compare to the pain caused by the knots she felt in her stomach as she ran for her life. _'I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die…'_

The scrambling hedgehog attempted to dodge the trees around her as much as possible, but couldn't help running into a few small ones as she ran away from her attacker. Her pulse was rising exponentially, but she refused to give up on her attempt to escape. In one of her many steps her foot landed on a small branch twisting her ankle and causing her to roll onto the ground. Amy forcefully shut her eyes and waited for her attacker to rip her apart, but instead felt a familiar pair of arms pick her up and pull her next to the trunk of a nearby tree. Amy let out a moan of pain caused by her damaged ankle, but Shadow covered her mouth to keep her from making a sound. He pulled her body close to his and pressed her back against his chest to minimize their visibility. This caused the vicious panther to keep running past them without realizing that the prey it was chasing after had been left behind.

Amy's cheeks burned as she felt the warmth and closeness of Shadow's body to hers. His embrace made her feel safe again and she found herself not wanting him to let her go. The protection she found in Shadow's arms was different than the one she felt when Sonic had held her to keep her out of danger.

"Shadow-" She began to whisper but was interrupted.

"Shhh don't talk." He whispered in her ear. "They're here."

Footsteps could be heard nearby and this made Amy press her body tighter onto Shadow's. He could feel the terror in her frail body, but the closeness of it to his made him feel tense. Somewhere deep down he knew he didn't mind it, but his mind was harder to convince than his gut.

"I told you I heard something over here." One of the soldiers said.

"There's no one around. Maybe she's far gone by now." Another one said.

"Maybe the panther we saw got to her. She must be dinner by now."

"Quiet you two." A voice hissed. "You guys better hope she's not that cat's dinner. The commander wants her back alive."

"Well maybe we can have a piece of her before we hand her over. Don't you think so, major?" There was a hint of laughter in his tone.

"If we find her soon enough we can have some fun with her. If not, Shadow is going to have her all to himself. Now keep moving east and look for any tracks you can pick out." He ordered.

"But it's too dark, I can't see anything." A soldier complained.

"I said kept moving!" He ordered once more.

Their footsteps slowly faded away into the dimness of the drizzling jungle.

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As soon as the footsteps were far gone Shadow released Amy who slowly sat on the ground before him.

"What are you doing? This isn't the time to sit." He told her.

Amy just stared off into the jungle ignoring Shadow's question. _'They're going to find me. And when they do, only Chaos knows what's gonna happen to me.' _

The worried pink hedgehog looked up at Shadow with a questionable look. "What do they mean you're gonna have me all to yourself?" Amy asked worriedly.

"My guess is that they're planning on having me hunt you if they can't find you themselves." He said. He noticed her face looked pale from worry instead of her mild fever and he felt the need to comfort her, but he wasn't the type of person to comfort others. He sat down next to her right and observed how miserable and scared she looked. "Well they haven't found you yet, have they?" He asked.

"They almost did." She answered hopelessly. "And if they don't find me, they're going to make you hunt me."

Shadow let out a small chuckle at her response. "Is that what you're worried about?" He asked. "That I'm going to turn around and kill you?"

Amy looked to her right to meet Shadow's crimson eyes. "Are you?" She asked worriedly. "You already saved me once. I know it's not like you to do it again." She felt as if Shadow's gaze was burning right through her.

"Hmph." Shadow let out. "I wouldn't have gone through all this trouble to just kill you in the end Amy." He reassured her.

His response made Amy's frown turn into a half smile. "Thank you, Shadow." He didn't smile back, instead just observed her weary emerald eyes. "So what will happen to you when they call you?" Amy asked curiously.

"I guess we will find out." He responded before looking away into the jungle.

"Oh and Shadow," the dark hedgehog's ears perked up, "I think I twisted my ankle. I'm afraid to move it." Amy said timidly.

"You must be a magnet for danger. I leave you alone for less than a minute and you run into a panther." He sighed.

"Um correction," Amy began, "you placed me on that branch."

"And you decided to take off running. It would've left you alone had you ignored it." He retorted.

"Well you left me there all alone." She fought back.

"Just admit it Amy. You attract danger. You ended up on this island out of all the people that could've been here instead of you." He told her.

"Well I attracted you. " She said. "Are you dangerous?"

"You didn't attract me." He said flatly.

"But you saved me and you're here with me." She insisted.

"If I wasn't with you, you would've been a lab rat, poisoned, eaten, hungry, thirsty, and who knows what else." He shot back. "I'm here on my own terms, and that is to repay you a favor. Don't ever think anything else of it." He seemed irritated with her comment.

"Okay." Amy said timidly, she was afraid to fight back.

Shadow felt bad for having replied so harshly, but he refused to even think about apologizing. The clouds above them made a gap for the almost full moon to shine down on the two hedgehogs. Amy looked up at the sudden light to explore the shimmering gem above them.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Amy asked.

Shadow followed her gaze with a confused look. "The moon?" He asked. The harshness had completely vanished from his tone.

"Yeah." She answered. "Ever since I was little I would always look up at the moon and wonder what it was telling me."

Shadow raised an eyebrow at her comment. "What do you mean? It's not saying anything."

"That's because you don't want to listen." She began. "The moon doesn't talk of course, but it's so peaceful and beautiful. If you let it, it stops all of the thoughts in your mind letting you focus on what you really want. For just a moment, all of your problems are so small." She smiled.

Shadow looked over at Amy in confusion. "I guess." She was so different to him. Every time they talked he seemed to realize that she wasn't the girl he once thought she was. She made him feel strange at times. Her optimism was contagious and he sometimes caught himself enjoying it.

"What's it telling you?" She asked with curiosity as she looked over to Shadow.

The dark hedgehog looked up at the pearl in between the clouds in thought. "It's telling me that you don't know what you're talking about." He smirked slightly.

Amy's smile went away and she stuck her tongue out at him. "Fine." She said. "You just wait Shadow the Hedgehog. One day, the moon is going to tell you something that will surprise you."

"Sure it will." Shadow replied sarcastically.

"I'm serious. And when it does, you better tell me. Promise?" She happily asked.

"Promise?" Shadow repeated in a puzzled tone. He found her question to be strange.

"Yes promise. You know? When people make sort of a deal." She began.

"I know what a promise is Amy. I just thought it was weird for you to ask for something so…childish." He told her.

"Well do you promise?" She smiled at him.

"Fine." He agreed. "But don't expect to hear anything from me. I don't believe in fairytales." He said flatly.

"It's not a fairytale. It's just nature being nature." The pink hedgehog said.

The light that shone on the two hedgehogs was dimmed down by the dark clouds above them. They both looked up at the change of atmosphere.

"We should go." Shadow got on his feet and offered Amy his hand in assistance. She took it and he helped her get on his back before they made their way into the dark maze of trees once more.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys! I'm sorry for the long wait, I've been so busy with school. Blah. But here's the next chapter, I hope it's enjoyable! :D**

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It had been dark for quite some time as the two hedgehogs made their way through the jungle. The rain was light, but the jungle seemed a bit cold this night. The moon would shine on and off between the clouds illuminating the area around them. Out far ahead, Shadow could hear the ocean.

The dark hedgehog slowed his pace and eventually came to a stop in an area hidden by the tall trees. He looked around at his surroundings for a spot to put Amy down. The rain was beginning to come down on them harder and so he knew he had to look for a dry place to keep Amy's fever away. He found a spot that resembled a small cave and placed her there. Amy whined at the pain coming from her bruised ankle.

"We should wait here until the right time to strike." Shadow told her as he sat next to her right, leaning his back against the wall of the small cave.

"Strike?" Amy questioned as she looked at him. "Where?"

"About half a mile from here is the north-east dock." Shadow began as his eyes looked in the direction to which he was referring to. "It is lightly guarded and they have a ship that you can take back to EmeraldCoast that can self navigate like I mentioned before. We just have to wait until the very early morning before the sun comes up to go and attack them. They should be half asleep by then and they won't be much of a resistance."

"Oh." Amy said. "Good, because I don't think I can put up much of a fight." She told him as she attempted to stretch out her ankle, but gasped at the sudden pain.

Shadow glanced over to her. "Can you walk at all?" He asked.

"Ummm." Amy thought. "Maybe, but my boots aren't really much of a support." Shadow thought for a second and got up. "Wait," Amy stopped him, "where are you going?" She asked worriedly. She hated being alone, he knew that.

Shadow turned to her. "If you see another panther don't run, you danger magnet." He smirked slightly and Amy was able to catch it by the moonlight. She smiled back at him, not worried anymore. She always found his smirks to be a rare sight and thought that there was some kind of hidden power within them that made her heart beat accelerate slightly.

"Just, don't be long please." She said as Shadow exited the small cave.

The rain outside of the small cave seemed to be coming down slowly. The crimson eyed hedgehog returned only a few minutes later with plants in his hands. He kneeled on one knee next to Amy's sore ankle.

"What are those?" Amy asked.

"These are vines. They look like seaweed, but they're stronger." He told her. "I used them to tie the palm tree leaves when I made the shelter back there. These should hold your ankle in place and allow you to move with less pain."

"Oh." Amy said as she leaned forward to attempt to take her boot off. The pain stopped her from doing so. "It hurts too much." She said with pain evident in her face. "I don't think I can do it Shadow."

Shadow aimed his crimson eyes at her and it made her freeze. "You're such a weakling." He said almost teasingly.

Amy blushed in embarrassment at Shadow's comment. "No I am not. I've been through a lot." She spat back.

Shadow chuckled at how easily she got offended. "You haven't even walked a mile. I've done all the work." He said. "You wouldn't make it ten feet without me. You can't even take your own boot off." He teased.

"I can too." Amy defended herself.

"Well then do it." Shadow told her.

Amy looked at her right foot and let out a heavy breath. "Okay." She said. Her hands began to remove her red boot slowly, but her body trembled in pain. She noticed Shadow's eyes on her and it made her even more nervous. She took a deep breath and completely removed her boot. "Owww." She whined. "Told you I could do it." She smiled.

Shadow smirked back faintly. "Here." He handed her the vines. "Now wrap it tightly." He told her.

Amy looked at Shadow in confusion. "But I don't know how." She said timidly.

Shadow let out a sigh. "Like I said, ten feet." He began to wrap Amy's ankle himself. "It looks like a minor sprain. You should be able to walk on it. Just start off slowly when you do."

Amy blushed slightly. Water was dripping from Shadow's dark quills. He made her feel tense whenever he looked at her. It was as if Shadow could make her melt with his ruby eyes. She found him to be attractive and she admitted it to herself, but she fought back in admitting that there could be something else other than a physical attraction. She enjoyed his company and every time they talked she wanted him to keep talking to her. Although Shadow could be harsh at times, she understood him. His life hadn't been an easy one and she was well aware of it. _'I wonder if I'll ever see him again after I leave.'_ The thought made her feel sad inside and the feeling displayed on her face.

"What's wrong?" Shadow asked. "I barely started wrapping it. It shouldn't hurt." He told her.

"Oh no it's not that." Amy blushed. She leaned closer to Shadow to see how he was wrapping her ankle. "Shadow, what's gonna happen to you once I leave?" She asked curiously.

Shadow thought for a brief second. "I don't know." He answered. "Maybe they won't notice I've been gone."

"Will I ever see you again?" She allowed herself to ask.

"Probably not." He told her. Shadow finished wrapping her ankle and looked up. He ignored how close Amy's face was to his and instead noticed the sad look her face wore. "Does it matter?" He asked.

Amy felt warm from having Shadow's powerful eyes on her. The closeness of him made her breathe heavily. "Oh." She said. "I guess not."

"Don't worry." Shadow told her. "You'll be back in your regular routine soon and forget about everything."

"I could never forget about you, Shadow." She said sincerely as she leaned even closer to him.

Something in the back of Shadow's head told him to back away from her and he did. Amy noticed the change in his composure. Had she said something wrong? Shadow looked outside of the cave to avoid looking at Amy. There was something about her that made him feel strange inside and he wasn't used to it.

"The rain has stopped." Shadow said to the pink hedgehog to escape the conversation they had been carrying.

Amy followed his gaze. "It looks like it." She said. Shadow turned around and faced Amy again. "My ankle feels a lot better, thank you." She smiled at him and slowly began to put her boot back on.

Shadow only nodded in return.

"I can probably even dance on it now. Do you dance Shadow?" She asked playfully.

The dark hedgehog raised an eyebrow at her question. "No. Why would I engage in such mindless behavior?" He asked back.

"Well aren't you an agent? All agents dance. Don't you ever have to go to fancy balls and blend in?" She smiled.

"I'm a different kind of agent Amy." He sighed. "I'm a hunter."

"Well you should be both kinds. The other kind must be exciting too." She smiled again. "I'll teach you how to slow dance. That's all you need to know to blend in. You can be like James Bond" She said excitedly.

Shadow couldn't help chuckling at her silliness. "No thanks Amy." He said.

"Oh come on." She put her hand on her hips. "Lets go before the rain comes back." Amy got up slowly as she tried to not put too much pressure on her bruised ankle. She was at the exit of the cave when she looked back at Shadow who just stared back in confusion. "Hello? Aren't you coming?" She asked as she placed her hands on her hips again.

"No. You're crazy." Shadow gave her an odd look.

"Actually, I am rather normal. I know how to slow dance. You don't." She stuck her tongue out at him. "So come on. It's really nice out here." She looked up at the glowing moon in the sky.

Shadow just shook his head in response.

"I'm just going to keep asking." She crossed her arms. "Or I'll just annoy you. La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la." She began.

"Amy shut up." He covered his ears.

"La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la." Amy got louder.

"If I go outside will you shut up?" Shadow got up and crossed his arms.

"Maybe." She smiled knowing that she was slowly convincing him.

"Fine." He stepped outside of the cave. "This is so stupid." He mumbled.

"No this is fun." She smiled again. "Here." Amy walked up to Shadow and grabbed his hands. "Put your hands here." She placed them on her waist. "And I put mine here." She placed her hands around his neck.

Shadow stiffened up. He didn't like being this close to people and there was something about Amy that made the closeness feel even stranger.

"I already don't like this." Shadow said annoyingly.

"Well we haven't even started." Amy whined. "Now you have to sway back and forth slowly. Like this." She began to sway and she pulled his body along with hers.

"I feel ridiculous." Shadow said. "There isn't even any music."

"Yes there is." Amy said cheerfully. "Listen." Shadow could hear the jungle. He heard the sound of the leaves in the trees dancing with the wind, the waves far ahead dancing with the sand, and the moonlight in the dark sky twirling around them. Amy looked up at the dark hedgehog. "Don't you hear it?" She smiled.

Shadow looked down into Amy's eyes. He didn't like to agree with her, it was defeat to him. "I guess." He said flatly as they continued to sway slowly.

Amy placed her head on his chest and she could feel Shadow tense up. "Just relax." She told him. She could hear his calm heart beat buried within his chest. "Your heartbeat is strong." She said softly.

The dark hedgehog felt strange. Why wasn't the closeness of her body to his bothering him? He could feel how fragile she was in his arms and he felt the need to protect the pink hedgehog, but he didn't know why.

Amy stopped swaying and looked up at Shadow again. Their noses were almost touching and her cheeks burned at the closeness of their faces. "I taught you how to slow dance. Now I consider you a full agent." Amy smiled simply. "And now you won't forget me either." There was a bit of sadness behind her voice. Her lips were almost touching his, but she couldn't dare herself close the gap between them. Her green orbs hid behind her eyelids along with the bit of sadness they projected.

There was something in Shadow's head that was telling him to back away from her again, but before he could think about it he did just the opposite. He closed the gap between him and Amy's lips. He was about to pull away immediately, but felt Amy's lips press against his as if pleading him to stay. It was like nothing either of them had ever experienced before. Shadow's head was beginning to cloud with desire and his kiss became more demanding. Amy gave in and leaned back as his tongue and lips pursued her. Her body felt hot and she longed for him to pull her closer. Thoughts filled with lust began to run through Shadow's clouded head and so he pulled away from her.

"Shadow-" Amy began.

"We have to go soon." He cut her off and kept his gaze away from her. "I'm going to go clear the dock. I'll be back for you soon so that you can go back home." He told her before making his way into the darkness around them.

Amy put her fingers on her lips. _'Did he? Did I? He wants to get rid of me.'_

Shadow dug his fist into a tree. _'What the hell was that?'_ He asked himself. '_How could I give in into something so stupid? She's clouding my head and it's keeping me from thinking clear when I'm around her. I want her gone now!'_

He hastily made his way through the wet dark jungle and made it to the beach in the blink of an eye. Shadow climbed a tree that overlooked the dock below. There wasn't much movement in the dock and everyone seemed to be asleep. The docks usually only contained 5 GUN officers and they were lightly placed around the beaches of the island to keep any intruders away.

_'It's time to have fun.' _Shadow thought with a smirk on his face. He jumped off of the tree and landed with both feet on the ground and a bent knee. He got up and slowly approached the dock. Anyone could see that the dark hedgehog was angry by the unusual red glow in his eyes. There was no getting in Shadow's way once his head was hot with rage. As he got close to the entrance of the small base, an officer jumped out of the small hub in front of it.

"What are you doing here?" He asked in confusion. "You can't be in here." He told Shadow, but the hedgehog kept approaching with his hands in fists as if he hadn't heard him at all. "Stop right there!" He drew out his pistol, yet Shadow kept walking towards him. The officer unloaded three rounds of his gun. Each time a bullet approached Shadow it seemed as if his image vanished, but he reappeared in the same spot right after with the same demanding walk. "Th-this can't be." The officer turned around and began to run towards the base, but Shadow appeared right in front of him. He jumped and kicked the officer on the side of his face sending him flying backwards unconscious.

"One down, four to go." Shadow said to himself as he made his way inside the small base. Once in front of the door, Shadow put his hand in font of it and with a small growl the door began to collapse on itself. He quickly shifted his hand to the right and the collapsed door flew out of place in the same direction. When he walked inside of the base, he saw three GUN officers sitting around a table. They scrambled to get up and point their weapons but Shadow was too fast. He punched the face of the officer to his left and grabbed the middle officer by the arm swinging him into the officer on the causing them to bump heads into one another. All of the three officers fell to the ground unconscious.

"One more to go." He growled. His red orbs examined the room and found the door that led out to the dock where the ship was. He swung it open with rage in his eyes and found the last officer backing away towards the ship's entrance. Shadow appeared at the entrance of the ship and the officer pointed his weapon at him. Shadow snatched the weapon from the officer's hand and used it to hit him on the side of his head, knocking the officer out. "That was pathetic." Shadow said.

He quickly scouted the small base for rope and tape and when he found them he moved all of the officers into the storage closet. He tied their hands together and taped their mouths shut. "That'll keep them quiet long enough." And with that, the dark hedgehog made his way back into the jungle.


	7. Chapter 7

**I know this chapter might be a bit short, but I think it's necessary. Hopefully I have more time to write sooner :) **

**Again, thank you to those following this story! **

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"You guys are useless!" The GUN commander yelled at the team he had selected to bring back the pink hedgehog. "She is alone and scared out there and you guys weren't able to find her? This delay is wasting time and money. If we don't bring her back, we can't begin any experiments on those people. You don't deserve to work for me any longer!" He growled.

"Sir, Shadow isn't in his room." An officer came in the office with a tablet in his hand. "He left his radio behind and we haven't been able to get a hold of him. No one has seen him in the base since the breakout. We were able to recuperate the lost video from the night vision cameras the night of the power outage." He informed.

The commander looked at the three officers he was previously yelling at. "Get out of my sight." He told them. The three of them scrambled their way out of his leaving the other soldier alone in the room with the commander. He signaled him to come forward. "What have you got?" He asked.

The officer approached his desk and handed over the tablet with the video. "This explains why the pink hedgehog escaped as well as Shadow's whereabouts."

The commander pressed play on the video. The images that flashed before him showed Shadow climbing over the fence and taking Amy out of the gated area. The anger in his face seemed evident and he tossed the tablet against the wall making it shatter.

"Orders sir?" The soldier asked.

"I'll handle this one myself." The commander growled. "He should know better than that. I can control him."

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Amy's body trembled inside of the small cave even though the rain had long stopped. _'When is he coming back? Does he not want to see me again? Is he going to leave me here all alone?'_ The pink hedgehog flinched at the sight of Shadow's familiar silhouette at the entrance of the cave. She couldn't bring herself to say anything.

"Let's go." Shadow said shortly. "I've cleared the dock. The ship is ready to transport you home."

Amy nodded in response. She watched Shadow turn his back towards her to wait for her outside of the cave. _'I guess I have to walk on my own from now on.' _She thought. She slowly got up and limped her way out of the cave, trying to keep the pressure off of her right ankle as much as possible. Every time she felt pain, she swallowed her words. Shadow began to walk in front of her, expecting her to follow, and she did. Amy was slow and Shadow was beginning to get impatient.

"It's only half a mile from here." He said.

Amy's stomach suddenly turned at the thought of having to force herself to walk that distance and a sigh escaped her lips. Shadow was irritated at the slow pace in which they were walking. He turned around and tossed Amy over his shoulder.

"You're too slow." He told her. "Reinforcements might come by the time we get there." He speedily made his way through the edge of the jungle and towards the beach.

Dawn was beginning to creep up on them when they reached the dock. Shadow placed the pink hedgehog on the small ship on a seat by the edge before making his way towards the controls to program the destination. The pink hedgehog watched Shadow with a hint of sadness in her face. _'I probably won't see him again.'_

When Shadow was done he turned to face her. The sun's rays were now present around them. It was the first time she had seen his crimson eyes since they had shared a kiss. They burned with power and pierced through hers like knives. "This vessel will take you to Emerald coast in about 12 hours. Once there, what you do is up to you." He told her.

"Shadow" Amy began. There was so much to say, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything with Shadow's crimson orbs on her. She was at a loss for words. "Thank you. For everything." She said.

Shadow nodded slightly. It was the first time he had acknowledged one of her gratitude expressions. He turned away and jumped out of the small ship and onto the dock. He made his way through the small base and onto the beach. Amy felt the ship begin to gain power and navigate itself away. The wind picked up, making her red head band fly out of her head and into the small control area on the ship. She leaned against the rails of the boat to catch a last glimpse of the dark hedgehog that had saved her life.

But nothing could have prepared the pink hedgehog for the sound that made its way into her ears. Her heart sunk when she heard Shadow growl in pain as he placed his hands on his head. The pain in his scream was evident. He collapsed on the beach soon after, with his body rolling around the sand unable to withstand the amount of pain it was in. She could see that he was putting up a struggle against the invisible force that was taking over him.

"Shadow!" Amy yelled, but there was no answer from his struggling body and the boat she was on was beginning to pick up speed. _'He's in danger.' _Without thinking, Amy stood up on the seat she was resting on and jumped off of the ship and into the water. The pink hedgehog swam with such force that it made her ankle numb.

When she reached the beach, she ran towards Shadow and kneeled by his side. His eyes were closed with his hands still on his head, but he continued to growl in pain. "Shadow, what's wrong?" Amy asked worriedly. She noticed that Shadow's golden rings were glowing and his voice echoed in her head.

_"Do you see these rings? They control my power. I can control them, but only to a certain extent. GUN has full access and control to them."_

"His rings." Amy whispered to herself. It was apparent that Shadow was losing his inner battle and his growls indicated that the pain inside of him was only increasing. She looked around and ran towards the edge of the jungle. Once there, she picked up a rock about the size of a coconut and rushed back to the dark hedgehog. She kneeled by his side and laid out his right arm. She raised her arm with the rock in hand and swung it down towards his golden ring. A shock of energy raced up her arm leaving the ring unharmed. _'No. I can't let him die like this.' _She picked up the rock again with both hands and smashed it repeatedly into Shadow's ring ignoring the stinging shocks in her arms. She noticed that the ring began to crack and so she continued to hit it until it shattered. She ran towards the other side of Shadow and smashed the rock into his left ring until it did the same as the other.

"Shadow." Amy called as she shook his body for a response. "Shadow, answer me please." But Shadow's body was still. A tear escaped Amy's green eyes as she rested her pink head on his chest. She could hear the faint beat of his heart and it gave her a bit hope. _'I have to get him out of here.' _Amy placed her head under Shadow's arm and got up slowly. She dragged his body back into the jungle little by little. Every step she took required more of her faint strength. The pain from her ankle was screaming inside of her head, but she did not stop. She walked until her body could no longer take another step and collapsed on the ground along with Shadow's unconscious body.

"I can't do it." Tears began to escape her emerald eyes. She was breathing heavily and tiredness overtook her body. Amy closed her eyes in exhaustion. "They're going to catch up to us. I'm sorry Shadow, you were right. I can't make it ten feet without you." She whispered as her thoughts drifted to emptiness.


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey all! I'm really glad that many are enjoying this story, as I am enjoying writing it :)**

**Hopefully this chapter doesn't turn many of my readers away, since the story is taking a bit of a twist, but I hope that the majority enjoys it. It's always exciting to read your reviews!**

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Amy opened her eyes about a half hour later. She sat up and saw Shadow's body next to hers and thoughts of worry flooded her head once again.

"Shadow!" Amy shook his unconscious body in search of a reaction. All she wanted was a flinch, a breath, anything to give herself hope. "Shadow wake up, please."

Shadow's dark eyelids flung open revealing his red orbs. He swung his body up and tackled Amy onto the hard ground placing his arm on her fragile neck as if ready to choke her. A gasp of horror escaped Amy's lips as his crimson eyes pierced into hers with Shadow's body on top of hers.

Shadow blinked in confusion and released his grip on her. "Amy?" He questioningly whispered.

"Who else?" Amy smiled awkwardly, happy to see that the dark hedgehog was alive and moving. It felt as if her heart could float back up to her chest from her stomach.

"What the hell are you doing here?" He asked as he sat in front of her. He gave her his hand to pull her body up into a sitting position.

"I-I came to help you." She told him. "As I was leaving, I saw you collapse in pain. You weren't well."

"You jumped off of the ship?" Shadow asked in a puzzled tone.

Amy only nodded in response.

"You stupid girl." He told her flatly.

Amy's mouth dropped open. "Excuse me? I helped you. You could've died if I didn't destroy those rings of yours."

"My rings." Shadow looked at his empty wrists. "No wonder I feel so weak." He growled. "That bastard. He will pay for this. He used my own power against me." Anger was present in Shadow's face.

Amy was afraid to interrupt the dark hedgehog's thoughts, but she knew she didn't have much time. "Shadow, we have to move." He looked at her again. "I couldn't drag your body very far. We're too close to the beach. They'll catch up to us." She explained.

Shadow looked around at his surroundings. He knew Amy was right since the dirt underneath them resembled that of beach sand. He slowly got up and Amy could see that there was a small hint of pain still present by the way he moved. "Let's go then." He told her as he offered her his hand once more to help her onto her feet. Amy's ankle was sore from all of the pressure that she had placed on it earlier, but she kept herself from complaining after seeing Shadow walking even after all the pain he had gone through. Both hedgehogs made their way silently into the jungle once again.

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Amy was keeping up with Shadow, but she could tell that he was getting irritated by the slow pace that they were both walking at. The air around them was heavy and the sun was slowly getting higher. Shadow had grabbed a few of the plants that contained water to keep them both hydrated in the heat as they made their way deeper into the jungle.

"Shadow," Amy called out making his ears flinch, "can we please stop for a little? I'm not sure how much longer I can keep walking." She told him.

Shadow stopped at her request and turned around to face her. Amy still felt a bit of uneasiness when he looked at her and she still found him to be intimidating. His red orbs made their way to her ankle.

"I'll carry you. It's not safe here." He told her.

"Are you sure?" She asked timidly. "I know your body isn't at its best."

"I'm fine." He said flatly.

Amy nodded and climbed on Shadow's back. She felt bad for having caused Shadow so much. '_I got him into this whole mess, he probably hates me.' _She thought.

"Shadow, what are we going to do?" She asked. Her voice was soft. It was almost a whisper into his ear.

"I don't know." He responded as he made his way past the trees.

Amy held on tighter to Shadow. She found his body to be comfortable and she felt tired. She placed her head on his shoulder and he didn't seem to care.

"I'm sleepy." She said as she lat out a yawn. "Aren't you?" She asked.

"One of us has to keep us alive." He replied.

"I forgot, you never sleep. Maybe that's why you're never in a good mood." She teased.

"What kind of mood would you be in if you had almost gotten shocked to death?" He asked. His writs still burned.

"I would be in a good mood actually, because almost means that I'm still alive. You should be happy you're not dead." She replied lightheartedly.

"You're so optimistic." He said shortly.

"And you're so pessimistic." She fought back.

Shadow rolled his eyes. "Well your optimistic self better hope that you can catch another ship to EmeraldCoast. I'm not sure that the security around the docks will be as light as it was before." He told her.

"You're not going to come with me this time?" Amy asked.

"I have unfinished business here." He answered.

"But they already know you're not at the base. Are they going to make you work for them still?"

"I doubt they want me to work for them. I'm pretty sure they want me dead."

"Then come with me. We'll both get help." She told him.

"I'll take care of the commander myself." There was anger in his voice. Amy knew that every inch of him hated the commander and that there was nothing she could say or do to keep him from going after him. Still, Amy didn't like to give up easily.

"But you don't have your rings anymore Shadow. The base is full of officers. You won't be able to get in." She tried to convince him.

"There's a way to get in without being spotted. There's a tunnel on the right side of the building that leads to a small control room. There is usually one officer there, but he lets his guard down at night. That's where I shut the power off when I got you out of there." He explained.

"There's no convincing you." She let out a sigh.

"I can take care of myself." He told her. He stopped walking and his ears perked up. "Do you hear that?" He asked.

Amy picked her head up from Shadow's shoulders and tried to listen herself. She could hear the sound of running water in the distance. "Water?" Amy asked.

"Yes." Shadow began walking towards the sound through the tall heavy trees. Soon enough, the sparkling pond revealed itself. There was a small waterfall draining into it from the giant rocks on the hill above it. The pool was surrounded by grey and brown river rocks and tall grass. There were also small streams that lead water out of the pond to keep it from overflowing. Even though there were a few trees around it, the sun shone down on the blue water making it glisten before the two hedgehogs.

"It looks so….refreshing." Amy said.

Shadow walked towards it and set Amy down on the grass. Both hedgehogs walked over to the shinning water. Shadow kneeled by the pond and splashed water on his face and wrists allowing it to sting them. Amy also kneeled by the pool and took off her gloves to check the temperature of the water.

"It feels so nice." She said with a smile on her face.

"We can stay here to rest." Shadow faced her. "I'll be back. I'll go and look for some fruit."

Amy nodded as Shadow got up and headed back into the jungle. The pink hedgehog watched him disappear and turned her attention back on the glistening water. She closed her eyes and listened in on the small waterfall. _'I would love a bath right now.' _She opened her eyes and examined the deepness of the pond as far as she could see. _'Shadow is gone anyways.'_

Amy sat back and took off her boots. She stood up and unzipped her red dress letting it fall onto her feet. She decided to leave on her white halter bra and white laced panties. She slowly made her way towards the inviting water keeping weight off of her slowly recovering ankle. She dipped in her feet to reassure herself of the temperature and continued in until the water was up to her shoulders. She dipped her pink head in allowing the water to sooth her body as she swam towards the water fall. There were a few big rocks under the falling water and Amy sat on one of them letting the region above her hips remain on top of the water. The pink hedgehog smiled at the feeling of relaxing water falling on her body as she ran her hands through her pink quills.

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Shadow walked back to the pond a few minutes later with bananas, berries, and coconuts in his arms. He placed the fruit on the grass near the pool and noticed Amy's dress on the ground. He looked at the water and saw that she was sitting on a rock under the small waterfall. Her bare pink back was towards him. He watched the way she ran her fingers through her quills. He tried to refuse to himself how striking she looked, but he was mesmerized by the way the water made its way down her curvy body. He took his eyes off of the pink hedgehog and reached for a couple of bananas. Shadow walked over to a small tree that was close to the water and sat down at its base with his back against it.

"Food is here." Shadow told Amy as he peeled a banana. His voice took Amy by surprise and she quickly tried to turn around, but ended up falling into the water instead. Shadow smirked at the sight of Amy's clumsiness caused by the sound of his voice. He watched as her pink head emerged from the water. "Did I scare you?"

"How long have you been there?" Amy asked observing his smirk.

"I just got here. I wasn't spying on you if that's what you were asking." He took a bite of the banana in his hand and closed his eyes.

A blush appeared on Amy's cheeks at his response. She watched how relaxed he was.

"Are you not planning on taking a bath yourself? I'm sure you need one." She teased.

Shadow shook his head in response.

"Fine." Amy said. "Be dirty then."

Shadow opened one of his eyes. "You don't even know what's in that water." He told her in between bites.

"Nothing is in here." She responded as she scooped water in her hands and poured it on her head. "The water is so nice and refreshing. It'll make you feel better."

Shadow closed his eye again and began to peel the other banana. "No thanks." He said replied.

Amy swam over to where Shadow was. She took a deep breath and began to splash water over to him. Shadow shook his head and got up. The pink hedgehog laughed at the miserable look he wore as water dripped from his quills. "What the hell was that for?" He asked in a growl, but Amy kept laughing.

"Well since you didn't want to take a bath I figured I'd bring the bath to you." She giggled.

He shot her a look. "I'll make you pay for that." He smirked as he began to unbutton his black uniform and kick off his shoes. The only thing Shadow left on were the black shorts he always wore that blended in with his fur.

Amy swallowed a gulp and began to back away. "It-it was just water, Shadow."

The black hedgehog just smirked as he approached the water. Amy turned around and began to swim away. "This pond is only so big, Amy Rose." He said before diving in gracefully.

Amy grabbed onto the rock under the small waterfall where she had once been sitting. She looked at the water near where Shadow had entered the pool. He green eyes moved swiftly over it to try to spot where he was, but there was no movement anywhere. _'Where is he? Where is he?'_ Her thoughts were running fast. Just then the petite hedgehog felt a pull on her calves and she was quickly dragged underwater. Once she felt the bottom of the pond she was released from Shadow's grip and she began to swim up for air as fast as she could. When the pink hedgehog's head emerged she started to cough out the water in her lungs as she gasped for air. She opened her eyes and saw Shadow swimming still in front of her with a smirk on his face.

"How's that for a relaxing bath?" He teased.

Amy shot him a look. "You're a jerk."

Shadow chuckled at her response. "You splashing water on my face isn't exactly nice."

"Well it got you in the water didn't it?" She smiled.

"Why the heck do you want me in the water so much?" Shadow asked.

"I don't know. I just thought it would put you in a better mood." She responded with the smile still on her radiant face.

"You're so odd." He told her. He watched how her smile went away. "But I suppose the water is rather relaxing."

Amy's smile reappeared. Shadow turned away from her and swam towards the shallower end of the pond. Amy just followed him without thinking.

"What do you want?" He asked.

"I don't know. I just figured I'd follow." Amy replied. Shadow turned to face her and just stared at her blankly. The closeness of him made her feel warm. Amy thought about the kiss they had shared a night ago, and it seemed as if she had dreamt it all. She knew she was attracted to him and there was something about him that pulled her in. "I'm gonna miss you when I leave Shadow." She told him. _'Why did I tell him that?'_

Her comment took Shadow by surprise. "Hmph. That's if you can leave this island."

"You won't miss me?" She asked.

There was a feeling of uneasiness in his stomach and he didn't know why. The truth was that he would indeed miss her, but there was no way he would admit to it. "Let's just say I won't be too excited when you leave."

Amy smiled. That was all she needed him to say. She was drawn to him like a magnet and she knew just what she wanted. She planted her lips on his. Shadow hesitated to respond at first, but then gave into her and kissed her back. She felt his hands on her back pull her closer to his body and a feeling of desire ran through her.

The feeling of Amy's almost bare body on his made Shadow lose control of his thoughts. The way her scent smelled of soft flowers made her taste like a forbidden fruit to him. His hands began to slide down her back wanting to explore every unknown curve.

Amy had never felt this feeling of want before and her blood was rushing through her body. The way Shadow kissed her this time was different, he wanted more. He grabbed Amy's quills with his right hand and bit her lower lip as he pulled her head back. His lips made their way down to her neck and a moan escaped Amy's lips. The sound was like ecstasy to his ears making him push her body against the side of the pond. His right hand let go of her wet quills and made its way down her flawless back and onto her curves again. Amy realized her body was getting weaker with every seductive kiss and touch he placed on her. Suddenly, she knew just where this would be headed. She had promised herself that her first time would be out of love and although she had never felt this way for anyone before, not even Sonic, she knew deep down that Shadow didn't love her.

"We have to stop." Amy whispered in his ear.

"Why are you resisting something that you want so much?" He whispered back as he continued to kiss her. "Every part of your body is telling me to keep going." His voice was seductive and Amy found herself fighting a thousand battles inside of her.

"Shadow…" She moaned. "I can't, please."

Her pleads made some of Shadow's senses return to him and he took his hands off of her body. He knew he wanted her, but he would never take her by force. His crimson eyes looked right into her green ones as he leaned over her with his hands on the edge of the pond. "Why?" His head was beginning to clear up.

"Because I know you don't love me." Shadow could see the sadness in her eyes. Did he love her or was his undeniable attraction to her purely lust? Shadow had been ignoring everything his gut told him the whole time he had been with Amy on the island.

"You're right. I don't." He told her flatly and watched how his words stung her. "I don't know what love is." He turned away from her and made his way out of the pond. She watched him put his shoes and gloves back on before laying down on the grass.

Amy followed shortly after. When she got out of the pond she put her red dress, gloves, and boots back on. Her damped underclothes made wet marks on her red dress. She walked over towards Shadow and sat by his side. His eyes were closed as the sun's rays filtered through the trees above them. Amy laid down next to him and placed her head on his white furry chest.

"What do you want now Amy?" Shadow sighed.

"I just want to lie next to you."

"Why?" He asked bluntly.

"I don't know. I just want to." She replied. "I'm really going to miss you." She buried her head into his furry white chest. "I'm not afraid to admit it to you Shadow."

"You must've hit your head in the pond when you fell." His eyes were still closed.

"I'm serious. I know you'll never admit it to me." She reassured him.

"I have nothing to admit to you." He said flatly.

"It's unlike you. But it's okay." She smiled.

"Just stop Amy." He told her. "I think you drank too much water in that pool."

Amy just smiled. "Whatever you say, Shadow." The feeling of being so close to him, made her body feel tingly, in a good way. She enjoyed his company, and she even enjoyed the way he would seclude his feeling from her.

But all of these thoughts went away when the pink hedgehog jumped up as she felt Shadow's body flinch in pain. His hands flung up to his head and he growled with pain evident on his face.

"What's wrong? Amy asked worriedly, but he didn't respond and his growls became louder.

_"Shadow I know you can hear me." _The commander's voice rang inside of his head. "_Did you really think you could escape us so easily? I know where you are and we're on our way to bring you back right now." _The pain in Shadow's head became more aggravating.

"Leave Amy!" He growled and as he forced open his left eye to look at her. She looked terrified.

"No. I can't." Amy protested as she kneeled by him. "I can help you."

"Get out of here! They're on their way here right now. I can hear him inside my head. Agghhh!" He growled again. "Leave!" His voice was rough and demanding.

Tears began to flow out of Amy's emerald eyes. "Shadow I can't. I don't know what to do without you."

Shadow's hurt was clearer that ever. His body trembled and curled as it crumbled in pain. "Run as far as you can and hide. Find a dock by the beach and take a ship back home there."

"But Shadow-" Amy's voice was weak.

"Amy leave now!" He growled again. Amy got up and took a few steps back. Her eyes were still fixed on him. "Go!" He yelled.

The pink hedgehog forced herself to turn before running in the direction away from Shadow.


	9. Chapter 9

**I'm sorry I took a bit longer to update, but hopefully I can do so more often. Anyways, enjoy this chapter! :)**

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The pain in Shadow's head was more than he could bear. His whole world seemed to be tearing apart by waves of shock in his head and he was slowly losing the fight inside of him. The grip he had on his head was gradually giving out. Although his senses were not at their best, he could hear the sound of footsteps approaching.

"He should be too weak to fight back by now. Stop the waves. I don't want him dead." The commander ordered. He could recognize his voice anywhere.

The immense ache in Shadow's head slowly began to weaken as he laid on his side. The aftershock left by the waves made his sight blurry as he opened his furious red eyes. He could see the outline of six GUN men surrounding him and automatically knew which silhouette belonged to the commander.

The commander stepped forward and kneeled in front of Shadow. He placed his hand under the hedgehog's chin and raised his head to look into his crimson orbs. "Such a waste Shadow." He spoke. "Your power is amazing, really. That's too bad I can control all of it. Did you forget you were my puppet?"

The anger his words sparked in Shadow were too much for the hedgehog's dying energy. He could feel his eyes getting weaker and his body getting heavier.

"Where is she?" The commander growled. "Is she still on the island? I know one of my ships is missing."

The commander looked into his weak ruby eyes and awaited a response, but Shadow's black eyelids shut him out. He let go of his head letting it fall on the grass.

"He's too weak. Take him back to the base." The commander ordered. "Come find me as soon as he wakes up. I would like to have a word with him before I kill him."

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Every breath Amy took burned in her throat as she sprinted through the jungle. Everything around her was a blur of green and brown as she did her best to dodge the trees around her. She ignored the shocks of pain coming from her ankle. How far had she ran? Was it enough? Not to her. A million thoughts were flashing through her mind, but she was fighting to ignore them.

Weariness was beginning to overtake her body and her pace had slowed, but she continued to push herself through. Shadow's growls echoed through her ears and she struggled to shove them aside. The once sunny weather over the sinister island had been replaced by dark clouds in the sky.

The pressure placed on her recovering ankle by one of her steps was too much for it to handle sending her straight to the ground. Amy curled her body by bringing her knees up to her chest to embrace them. Her breathing was heavy, but it was broken by her sobs. Tears began to depart her weary green eyes.

_'What am I going to do? I can't leave him behind. I don't want to leave him behind.'_

Fatigue overcame her mind sending the fragile hedgehog into a slumber.

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Out far, in Emerald Coast, laid a famous blue hedgehog on the beach with his best friend Tails. Both of them were enjoying the orange sunset before them as the rays of the shimmering sun danced on the clear beautiful water.

"I still miss her a lot, you know?" Sonic told his fox companion.

"Of course you do. I miss her too. It has only been a few days. Time will heal us all." Tails tried to comfort his friend. "Cream refuses to come out of her house at all. Amy wouldn't want her to shut herself away like that and she wouldn't want us to be sad."

"Yeah I know. She was always so happy. She enjoyed sunsets too, they remind me of her just like the moon. She would always stare up at it and tell me that it was telling her something, but I never really listened. I wish I would have." Sonic's tone was sad.

"There's no point in wanting to change the past." Tails looked over to the blue hedgehog and as he did a sparkle out in the sea caught his blue eyes. Something was shimmering out of the ordinary in the sea. "What is that?" The fox asked as he stood up causing the beach sand to rain off of his fur and return to the ground.

Sonic turned his attention in the same direction and noticed the object Tails was referring to. "I don't know. It looks like a boat is headed this way. It doesn't look like any boat I've ever seen. Think we should check it out?" Sonic asked.

Tails nodded and gave the blue hedgehog a hand to help him up from the sand. Both friends headed over to the strange incoming ship and waited for it to reach the sand.

"That's odd. It doesn't look like there's anyone on there." Tails noted.

"Well then lets go on board and see what we can find." Sonic suggested.

Tails offered Sonic his hands before spinning his orange tails and lifting them both onto the craft. Once on, the orange fox went straight to the control area.

"Woah this thing self navigates. It's really advanced." He sounded excited. Everyone that surrounded Tails had always been amused by his love for machines as well as his knowledge.

Sonic walked over to his friend, but something red caught his green eyes by Tails's feet. "What is that Tails?" He asked. The orange fox picked up the red cloth by his feet and Sonic immediately recognized it. "It's Amy's headband!" He reached for it to get a better look and brought it up to his nose. "It even smells like her too. Maybe she's still alive! It only makes sense for her to have gotten out of the plane alive if her headband is here. She probably tried to come home in this but something stopped her. We have to find her!" There was determination behind every word. "Can you trace back the ship's coordinates?" He asked.

Tails turned his attention back to the controls. "Actually, I can!" He smiled but it didn't last long. "It says here that the coordinates are 12 hours away at the top speed of this ship. The X-Tornado is not that much faster without a Chaos Emerald. I don't have any right now, do you?"

"No, I don't either, but I'm sure Knuckles would help us find one." The blue hedgehog was already off of the boat. "What are we waiting for? We better get moving!"

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Shadow could feel a burning pressure on his wrists. His senses were gradually returning to him and he could feel that the tips of his shoes were barely touching the ground. He slowly opened his eyes and recognized the grey chamber he was in.

This was it. This was the place were he had killed those men that stood up against GUN's sick actions and now he joined them. Their frightened faces rushed back into his mind. Was he to face the same faith they did?

"He's waking up. Go get the commander." One of the two officers in the room ordered. The other left the room soon after.

Shadow's eyes went to the high window on his left and noticed that night was beginning to fall along with rain. His thoughts focused on Amy._ 'She's out there alone.'_

He looked up and saw the heavy chains that held him up by his wrists. He could feel the metal cutting into his skin by the pressure exerted on them from his weight, but his feet couldn't reach the floor completely. His head had not fully recovered from the brutal shocks they had caused within it. The sound of the sliding door opening was followed by footsteps entering the room. Shadow looked up to see the commander and the officer that had left the chamber earlier enter the room together.

"Leave us." The commander ordered causing the two officers to exit the room. He walked towards the dark hedgehog in chains. "Look at you." He began. "You look pathetic."

Shadow's red orbs were focused on the commander's dark eyes.

"You should've followed orders Shadow. You were doing great, until you started asking questions. You should've stayed away from the arrival. We told you it would be messy." The commander began to walk around Shadow, but the hedgehog's crimson eyes followed him until he was out of their reach. He felt the commander grab his quills and pull his head back. "Who is she?" He growled in his left ear before releasing his head.

"That isn't your business." Shadow answered in an angry tone.

The commander dug his fist into the hedgehog's back causing the metal chains above him to rattle from the movement. He walked over to face Shadow again. "Of course it's my business you damned hedgehog. She belongs to me! Just like everyone else in this island." He spat. "Where is she?"

Shadow's eyes were burning with anger. "She's gone."

"Where have you sent her?" He walked closer to him.

"You will never know." The dark hedgehog retorted.

The commander dug another fist into Shadow's gut knocking out the air in his lungs and sending him into a coughing fit. "Have you got any idea of what you have done?" His voice was filled with anger. "You have delayed everything!" The back of the commander's hand met Shadow's face with great intensity. "No experiments can be performed until she has been captured." Slight blood began to flow out of his nose. "And she will be captured. We know where she lives, her name, her job. It is only a matter of time. I'll ask you again. Where have you sent her?"

Shadow raised his face again to meet his dark eyes. "I don't care what you do to me." He spat angrily.

The commander punched him in his gut with much more force than before causing Shadow to spit out a few drops of blood. He then pressed a button on the wired microphone connected to his right ear. "Send everyone out to sea. I want every vessel on this island looking for her." He ordered into the microphone. The commander reached for Shadow's face and brought it close to his. "If we don't have her within the next five hours, you better start talking or I will personally fry your brain." He pushed his face away and left the room leaving only the sound of the rattling metal chains behind.

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The heavy rain drops crash landed on Amy's face causing her to awaken from her sudden nap of exhaustion. Her eyelids opened slowly and she looked up at the dimming sky.

_'That's just great. I love being alone in the dark.'_

She sat up and examined her surroundings. The jungle was getting darker by the minute and it made her want to hold on to every second of light the day had left. The raindrops could be heard throughout the jungle as they landed on the leaves of the trees above. The pink hedgehog got up and walked towards the foot of the nearest tree. She placed her back against the trunk and slid down slowly, feeling miserable. When she made it to the ground, she wrapped her arms around her knees to keep her warmth.

_'How I miss Shadow. He's safe, strong, warm, and he always knows what to do. I even miss his sarcastic comments. I miss the warmth I feel when his red eyes are on me. I miss the way he smells. I miss the way he makes me feel better without him even knowing it.'_ A sigh escaped Amy's lips. She looked up at the slowly rising full moon. Its brightness was so intense that it pierced through some of the dark clouds in the sky.

"I hope you're okay Shadow." She whispered to herself and the moon as tears began to form in her green eyes. The warmth she had felt when they had shared a kiss in the pond seemed so far away from her now. She closed her eyes and placed her fingers on her lips as she tried to remember the way his lips felt on hers. _'I know he cares for me, even if it's just a little.'_

Amy opened her weary green eyes again and looked up at the glowing moon. "What do I do now?" She asked it, but only rain drops could be heard throughout the jungle. Her emerald eyes were mesmerized by the pearl shinning in the dark sky above and all of her thoughts focused in on the dark hedgehog. "I can't leave him here." She whispered. Suddenly, she remembered what Shadow had told her about GUN's base and the tunnel to its right that lead to a small control room.

"I have to go there." She told the moon. "I have to help him the way he has helped me."

Amy got up and looked at her surroundings. _'Which way to the base?' _Her and Shadow had traveled far in every direction and the last time they traveled together they had moved towards the center of the island and towards the base. Amy could see a very dim light in the far distance between the tall green trees. She recognized those lights as the ones that shone down on her when she was imprisoned in the base. "That's it!" She told herself as she began to jog away as fast as her ankle would let her in the dark and rainy jungle.


	10. Chapter 10

**Here's the next chapter. Yay :D Thank you for your wonderful reviews!**

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Shadow opened his dark eyelids slowly as he brought sense back into his mind. He looked down at the small pool of blood that had formed on the grey tile beneath him from his mouth and nose. He couldn't remember the last time he had seen his own blood. The dark hedgehog had never felt so helpless before. His once strong and powerful body now felt weak and sore. The waves of shock that had been present earlier in his head had left an aftershock so massive that the thought of them made it feel as if they had never vanished at all. He slowly raised his head and caught a glimpse of the full moon glowing through the high window on his left side. Its radiant beauty shattered the feeling of darkness that surrounded the room he was being held captive in. His crimson eyes were being showered by the drops of light that escaped from the jewel in the night sky.

Shadow looked down and broke the invisible string that connected the pearl above and his ruby eyes. His thoughts focused in on Amy and he wondered where she was, what she was doing, and if she was safe. '_Why am I protecting her over myself?'_

He looked up at the shinning moon again and saw Amy's radiant face on it. A sense of peace began to surround the black hedgehog. _'She's different.'_

Thoughts of the kiss they had shared in the pond flooded his mind. He knew he was attracted to her. The way her soft scent had surrounded him earlier had made his senses hungry for her body, yet Shadow knew that deep down there was something other than just lust that attracted him to the pink hedgehog. If there wasn't, he wouldn't have ended up hostage by the metal chains above him to protect her.

The white serene light of the moon danced in Shadow's crimson orbs and he felt the most peculiar sense of peace as his thoughts stayed fixed on the pink hedgehog. The thought of her smile made his spirits feel a bit of hope. He thought about how clumsy Amy had been in the jungle and the thought formed a weak smirk on his face. Shadow felt as if the moon was telling him that he missed her. He tried to deny himself that he did, but he knew the moon was right. He missed Amy Rose and the way she made him feel when she was around. He knew deep down that he missed her contagious optimism, her clumsiness, her smile, her voice, her scent, and everything that came with her, even her bad luck.

'_I guess the pink hedgehog was right. The moon can talk after all.'_

Shadow saw how the pearl in the dark sky escaped his limited view as it slowly moved away from the window. The room was dim again as the darkness within it absorbed the small bit of brightness that came from the faint lights on the ceiling of the cell. The dark hedgehog's head faced down again at the small puddle of blood under him.

A sigh escaped Shadow's lightly blood stained lips at the thought of not seeing Amy ever again. Was he going to die before she did? There was no doubt in his head that Amy was trapped in the island just as much as he was. He knew that she hadn't had enough time to get to a ship before they had all sailed to sea in search of her. He could only hope that the time he was trying to get her would help her recover so that she could put up a stronger fight when they caught up to her. The feeling of frustration that overcame Shadow for not being able to help her was too much for his weak body to handle. All he could do now was wait. Wait for the commander to fry his brain, wait for them to tell him Amy was dead, or wait for them to torture him again. The pain he felt on his raw writs was becoming all too natural as his beaten body hung from the metal chains above in the sinister gray room.

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Amy stayed hidden behind a thick tree near the base as she tried to catch her breath. The rain above her was light and it helped her body stay cool after the jog she had pushed it through. Her emerald eyes caught a glimpse of the enclosed area where the passengers from her flight were being held captive and she noticed that not one single GUN officer was on patrol around them.

Amy observed the other side of the base where the main entrance was and looked for any officers in sight but it was just as empty. She took a deep breath before she began to move swiftly behind the trees and bushes near the base in search of the tunnel Shadow had mentioned.

On her jog to the base, the petite hedgehog had picked up a thick wooden stick that reminded her of her piko-piko hammer and some of the vines that Shadow had used to wrap her ankle. She wished now more than ever to have her precious hammer with her, but the officers on the plane had stripped it from her when they took her golden rings.

The pink hedgehog came to a stop behind some bushes when she spotted the tunnel. She looked around and scouted the area with her weary green eyes and noticed that there was no one around again.

_'Where is everyone? Besides the prisoners this place looks deserted.' _She took a deep breath and planned the best possible route to the tunnel. _'I can do this. I have to do this.'_ Amy convinced herself before taking off with her wooden branch onto the exposed ground and into the wide tunnel. Once inside the tunnel, the pink hedgehog looked behind her to make sure that no officers had appeared.

Amy walked slowly into the darkness of the tunnel with a tight grip on the stick incase she needed to swing it. The light of the full moon disappeared behind her. A small stream of water ran underneath her red boots that lead out of the passageway. In the distance, Amy could see a bit of light.

_'That must be the control room Shadow talked about.'_

She fought with her body to try to keep herself from breathing heavily and carefully calculated every step she took to keep the water from making as much noise as possible. Amy could see that the tunnel kept going all the way through the base and into the other side, but she spotted the entrance of the small control room to her left. She walked near the left wall as she approached it. Once on the edge of the wall, she peeked to get a glimpse of the opening of the room on her left.

Amy saw an open room with computer monitors on the wall. She spotted the guard of the room on a chair facing away from her towards the screens. His composure resembled that of a sleeping man.

_'Shadow did say that this guard was quite distracted at night.' _She reminded herself.

Amy slowly walked up the steps that lead to the opening of the room. She silently approached the sleeping guard on his chair as she stretched out her hand with the stick.

_'I can do this. I can do this.' _She thought before rapidly pressing the stick against the guard's neck trapping it between her body and the branch. The guard awakened in shock and reached up to the stick in an attempt to pull it away from his neck, but the pressure applied by the pink hedgehog was too strong for him to pull away in the position he was in.

"I won't hurt you, if you help me." Amy spat at him. "So stop scrambling around before I choke you to death."

The officer slowly managed to calm himself back into his chair and Amy released some of the pressure she had on his neck to allow him to breathe. "Wha-What do you want?" He asked.

"You took Shadow. I want him back. Where is he?" She asked in an irritated tone.

"I-I don't know." He trembled.

Amy pulled the stick towards her and the officer began to choke again. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Where is he?" She asked again.

Amy released some pressure from the stick again and the man began to gasp for air. "He's in the interrogation room." The officer said weakly.

"And how do I get there? You will tell me the truth, because if you don't, I will come back for you and beat your skull into your brain." She threatened. The petite hedgehog was surprised at her very own tone of voice. _'How am I coming up with this stuff? Shadow's meanness must've rubbed off on me.'_

"Go in that door." He motioned his head towards a door on his right. "The hallway will take you through the entire base slightly underground. You need to go inside the third door on your right. There will be a set of small stairs and a sliding door that leads into the room where Shadow is." The man stopped to cough for air. "You will need my ID key to get into the room." He reached for his key chain with his right hand and dropped the keys on the ground before him.

"What about the other guards?" Amy questioned him.

"You're in luck. Most of them are at sea right now. The building is solitary. There are only about five of us in here including the commander in his office. The doctors and researchers are in their labs and rooms. You must be really wanted. The commander has everyone looking for you." He told her in a choking voice.

"Why are you being so honest with me?" She pressed the stick into his neck in an attempt to get every inch of truth out of him.

The officer struggled to speak and she released it again. "I have a family at home. Whether you live or die is not my problem. I want to live." He told her honestly.

"Put your hands behind the chair." She ordered and he quickly obeyed. Amy felt bad for what she was about to do next. She had taken a few classes back in Station Square for self protection and she was about to put them to use. "Thank you for helping me." She told him before swinging the stick to the side of his head with just enough force to knock him out. The man went limp again and fell back into his chair as he was before she found him. "I'm sorry." Amy apologized to the unconscious man. "But you will still see your family." She smiled before reaching for the vines she had brought to tie his hands together behind his back. The pink hedgehog made sure to tie his legs to the chair as well.

After she had made sure that the officer was secure, she reached for the keys he had dropped for her. Amy examined them and she noticed that some of the keys seemed to be meant for his home and car. She spotted his GUN ID within them and headed towards the door on her right in search of the dark hedgehog.

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The pink hedgehog stumbled through the sinister hallway with her stick in hand.

_'One...'_

She counted in her head as she passed a gray door on her right. The hallway seemed cold. It had been a while since she had been inside an air conditioned building.

_'Two…'_

Amy passed another gray door on her right. The floor beneath her boots was unusually shiny for such a structure. The lights above her head that lit the hallway were white and cold.

'_Three.'_

She stopped in front of the door and looked around for officers, but the building seemed deserted. The petite rose looked up and searched for any cameras, but there didn't seem to be any present. She took a deep breath before slowly pushing the gray door in front of her open.

The small hallway behind the door was much dimmer than the one she had first walked. There was a small set of stairs within it and she proceeded to climb them. When she reached the top she saw the sliding door the officer had mentioned. The door looked heavy and it was made of metal. Amy saw a small red blinking scanner on the right side of it. She took a few steps towards it and slowly glided the officer's ID card over the red lights before securing the key chain on her right wrist again. The scanner reacted to it immediately and its red lights changed to green as the door before her slid open.

Amy hoped that Shadow would be behind the door, but nothing could have prepared her for the sight she took in once the sliding door was fully opened. The pink hedgehog's heart dropped when she saw Shadow hanging from the metal chains above him by his writs. The room was dim, but the lights from the ceiling and the screen monitors to her left were enough to light up the dark hedgehog's beaten body as blood from his wrists made its way down his dark fur. Amy dropped the stick and her hands went up to her face to cover her mouth as she gasped in shock.

The sound of the sliding door alerted Shadow and he picked up his head. He didn't know if he was imagining the pink hedgehog standing at the door. "Amy?" He whispered in confusion.

A tear departed from the pink hedgehog's green eyes before she dropped her hands and ran towards Shadow. She couldn't help herself from embracing him tightly, but let go of her strong hold when she felt him flinch in pain. She placed her head on his white fur and listened to his vivid heartbeat. The sliding metal door behind her closed and locked again.

"I'm so sorry Shadow." She whispered.

"What are you doing here?" He asked. He still couldn't believe she was there.

"I came to find you." She explained as she stepped away to get a better look of him.

"You shouldn't have came Amy." Shadow sighed even though deep down he was happy to see her. He knew that this could be the last time he got a glimpse of her. He was well aware now that no matter where he went, the commander could kill him off with the push of a button.

Amy's eyes flicked up to his bloody wrists and an expression of horror displayed on her face. "What have they done to you?" She asked worriedly ignoring his previous comment.

"It doesn't matter what they've done to me. You need to get out and save yourself. Hide out in the jungle until the boats come back and then take one back to Station Square." He told her.

Amy shook her head in disagreement. "I won't leave you behind again. We're in this together whether you like it or not." She stood up on her tiptoes to examine the chains around his writs.

"It's no use Amy. They're electronically locked by the computers over there." He motioned his head to the right towards the glowing screens. "You can't override them."

Amy went over to the computers and her eyes went to the one that had the word 'lock' on the monitor. She walked over to it and touched the screen. The monitor flashed to a screen that said 'access ID' and a scanner lit up next to the panel. She grabbed the keys from her wrist and flicked though them until she found the officer's ID card and scanned it swiftly. The computer flashed to a green screen that said 'Access Granted'. Amy turned and heard the locks from the chains open up causing Shadow's body to fall to the ground. The dark hedgehog growled in pain as his body came in contact with the cold and hard floor. The pink hedgehog rushed over to his weak body and leaned over him.

"How did you do that?" He asked her, almost in awe.

"I don't think you give me enough credit." Amy smiled. Her smile hadn't changed a bit from the way he remembered it when she was gone and it made him feel at peace even though he was in torture chamber. He smirked back at her slightly. "The officer I ran into told me that most of the soldiers in here are gone and looking for me. That means we can take care of your wounds before we leave the building. You know this place better than I do, so which way to the nearest infirmary?" She asked.

"Don't waste your time trying to help me Amy. Use this time to save yourself." He told her again. He wanted to go with her, but Shadow knew that he couldn't escape the faith the commander had chosen for him.

"Nonsense Shadow." She shook her head. "I'm not leaving until you come with me. So where's the nearest infirmary?" She asked again in a determined tone.

Shadow sighed at her stubbornness. _'If going with her is the only way to get her out of here, then I guess I will have to go.' _He thought. After all, he knew he didn't mind spending every last minute he had left with the pink hedgehog. Shadow pushed himself up with most of his energy and Amy helped him by getting under his arm and resting some of his weight on her. "An infirmary will be too open. All of our rooms have bathrooms and first aid kits within them. We can stop by my old room on our way out." He told her.

"Okay." Amy responded before her and Shadow made their way out of the gray chamber and into the cold building.


	11. Chapter 11

**Okay so I'm not sure if I should post a warning before this chapter, but please know that I was not trying to write a lemon, I just want to express the chemistry between the two characters. Hopefully most of my readers will understand and enjoy this chapter :)**

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Both hedgehogs carefully limped through the cold hallways of the building in search of Shadow's old room. They were watchful of any guards that might be roaming the halls, but the base seemed surprisingly empty. It was the last place GUN officers expected Amy to be hiding. Shadow hated being helped by others, but there was something about Amy that put him at ease even though he was aware that his world was going to come crashing down on him in a matter of hours.

"That's it." Shadow pointed at a door to their left. "I should be okay to walk now." He told her. Amy knew Shadow's body was still exceptionally weak compared to its normal state, but she also knew that it was not in his nature to accept help form others and so she kept herself from objecting. The dark hedgehog focused all of his energy on walking towards the door and the pink rose followed behind. He slid open a pad near the entrance and typed in a number code on the small keyboard. The small screen projected a green flash and the door in front of them slid open. Shadow entered slowly and flicked on the lights followed by Amy.

The pink hedgehog examined the room with curious eyes. The walls were white and dull and his bed was in the corner where the right and far wall met. She could see an opening in the wall to her left that lead to the bathroom.

"Well this is cozy." She said as the door behind them closed and locked.

"I always hated this place." He told her as he made his way to the sink in the bathroom. He opened the small mirror cabinet on top of the sink and took out a white first aid kit. He placed the kit on the ground before turning on the water on and splashing some of it on his face. He let the warm water run down his raw wrists causing them to sting.

Amy walked over to Shadow's old bed. She couldn't help but lie on it to feel its soft pressure on her tired body. "This is so nice." She smiled. "I never thought I'd get to lie on a bed again."

"Don't get too used to it. We have to go soon." He told her from the bathroom.

Amy got up from the bed and went over to Shadow who was still running water over his wrists. "Not until we take care of you first." She reached down for the first aid kit and shut off the water from the sink. "Come and sit down so I can wrap those." She smiled at him.

Shadow let out a small sigh in response, but followed Amy to the bed. He knew that he had to comply to get her out of here as soon as possible. He could feel some of his energy returning to his body as time passed. The dark hedgehog sat on his old bed where he had spent many sleepless nights and Amy proceeded to sit next to him. She opened the first aid kit and took out an alcohol bottle, cotton pads, and gauze.

"Now let me see those wrists." She reached for Shadow's hand, but frowned at the sight of his wounds.

The dark hedgehog watched her worried expression as she poured alcohol on a cotton pad. "It's not as bad as it looks." He told her.

"Well not for you of course. You're the ultimate life form." She smiled at him. She began to clean his raw skin and Shadow groaned slightly as the alcohol stung and disinfected his cuts.

"I don't feel so ultimate. I can die any moment now." He said softly. He was thinking outloud.

Amy directed her gaze away from his wrists and into his crimson eyes. "Don't say that. You don't know that." She tried to convince him.

Shadow smirked at her faintly. "Don't worry Amy. I'm not afraid of dying." He reassured her.

The pink hedgehog frowned. "But I'm afraid of you leaving me again." Her weary green eyes projected a beam of sadness and Shadow had to look away. Seeing her sad made him uncomfortable, especially when the source of her misery fell on his shoulders.

Amy looked back down at his writs to wrap gauze around them. Shadow observed how gently she took care of his wounds and with every tender movement she made he could feel himself growing fond of her. It wasn't like Shadow to be affectionate towards others, but he knew that there was a connection between them that neither of them was able to explain. They were so opposite from one another that they fit together so well like two complicated pieces of a puzzle.

Amy finished wrapping both of his wrists and she poured more alcohol onto another cotton pad. She looked up at Shadow and he just stared back blankly.

"You have some scratches on your face." She told him. "It shouldn't sting that much compared to your wrists." She smiled dimly.

"I think scratches are the least of our problems Amy." He sighed. He wasn't used to being taken care of by others.

"You worry too much about our problems." She smiled again as she lightly wiped the alcohol pad on his face causing him to close his eyes.

"Someone has to be the responsible one." A faint smirk appeared on his lips, but his eyes remained closed.

"I am responsible." Amy pouted. "I'm taking care of you. You took care of me before." She finished cleaning his scratches and Shadow opened his eyes. He noticed how close she was to him, but he didn't mind it anymore. He had grown used to being around her and he knew that saying good bye to her would be tough when the time came.

"You won't leave me again, right?" She asked sadly.

"You know I can't control that." He responded. Her emerald eyes displayed a world of sadness within them. Shadow leaned his head to the right slightly in confusion. "What's wrong?" He asked. He could see her eyes were beginning to water.

"They can't really kill you can they? I mean, they can hurt you a lot, but they can't kill you right?" She asked again in the same tone.

Shadow couldn't make sense of how much his possible approaching death was affecting her. No one had ever cared for him so much since Maria, but the few memories he had of her were faint. "I think they can. They almost killed me back in the jungle, but they were hoping I could tell them were you were before they did. Chances are that I will be dead before tomorrow's sunset." He told her honestly and watched how a tear departed her eye. "Don't worry about me Amy. I have to get you to a safe place in the jungle before that happens. You need to wait for a ship to take back home."

Amy shook her head and more tears began to make their way down her face. "I can't leave here without you." Her voice was weak.

Shadow didn't know how to comfort her. He didn't like the sight of her crying, it didn't feel right. "You will. You'll be home with your friends again and rebuild your life. You'll forget about this island eventually. I wasn't a part of your life before this." He told her.

"I don't want you to stop being a part of it." She placed her head on his white chest and hugged him as she sobbed.

Shadow didn't know how to react at first, but after hearing her cry for a moment he put his arms around her and returned the embrace. "I won't. I'll be in your memories. Just like Maria was in mine." He placed a hand on the back of her head and ran his fingers down her pink quills. "But you have to make it out of here. For both of us." It was as if something inside of the dark hedgehog had softened. He didn't want to push her away anymore. He had never felt closer to anyone, and the feeling was so unfamiliar that it made his judgment fuzzy.

_'I don't know how much time I have left with him.' _She thought. "Shadow," Amy said as she tried to push her sobs away, "I have never felt this way before." She confessed.

The dark hedgehog just starred off into the dull white wall in front of him as his hand continued to run down her quills. He couldn't make much sense of what she meant, but he only knew that he had never felt this way either. All of the feelings that ran through his body when he was near her were so unknown to him. He didn't know how much time he had left with her either, but he couldn't bring himself to tell her that the feeling was mutual. It just wasn't in his nature to express his feelings as easily.

Amy pulled her body up while still keeping their embrace to plant her lips on his. Shadow waited a moment before deciding to return the gesture. There were so many feelings running through their bodies as their lips and tongues danced together.

Shadow leaned back on the bed and Amy didn't hesitate to follow. Her scent of soft flowers twirled around him and he felt as if an eternity had passed since he had last encountered it. He felt an entire different attraction towards her this time around. Although he still wanted to make her body his, there was another feeling of want inside of him. He wanted to feel close to her and sense everything that she was feeling.

Amy's mind was racing with thoughts of Shadow. The passion she was feeling while they kissed awakened every sense inside of her. She wanted him more than she could even begin to understand. Did she love him? She had never imagined that she would feel this way for anyone. In the short time that she had spent with Shadow on the island, she had gotten to unravel the mystery that he was and she loved every single part of it. The thought of losing him made her want to go crazy and she didn't want to waste any of the precious time they had left together.

Shadow rolled on top of Amy's body and his lips began to make their way down her neck. He could feel her body getting hot with every inch he traveled and she let out a soft moan. His mind was entering a wild state and so he pulled himself away from her while he still had the strength to. He looked down on her and noticed her green eyes were still wet. "What's wrong?" He sat up on the bed and she followed.

"Nothing is wrong. Almost everything in this moment is perfect." Amy answered as she buried her face in his neck. "This feeling inside of me is overwhelming. I just hate thinking that there might be a chance that I will never see you again." She pulled herself away from his neck and looked into his ruby eyes. "I want you to be a part of me forever Shadow." She whispered.

He knew what she wanted him to do and every part of him wanted her too, but he didn't want them to do something she might later regret. "Are you sure that's what you want?" He asked.

She nodded in response. "I want us to spend every second of every moment we have left together."

Shadow didn't know how to respond to her request. Before he could think about it, Amy took her boots off revealing the weak vines that he had wrapped around her ankle a night ago. She stood up in front of him and unhooked her red halter dress from behind her neck letting it fall swiftly to her feet. Shadow opened his mouth in an attempt to object, but fumbled to find the right words as he took in the view of Amy's body in her white laced underwear. The sight of her attire reminded him of the time they had spent together when they were swimming in the pond.

Before Shadow could make up his mind on what he wanted to say, Amy put her pointer finger up to her lips telling him to save his words of objection. To Amy, there was nothing he could say to change her decision of giving herself to him. Their eyes were locked together. She went on to unhook her white laced halter bra and it revealed her breasts as it fell on the ground.

Shadow was hypnotized by her, but he broke their eye contact to look down and kick off his shoes. He didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable even though she looked beautiful and confident. He knew that this would be her first time with anyone, but Shadow wasn't new to this. There had many girls that worked for GUN that had thrown themselves at him and even though he was selective, he did have some of them. Although the act wasn't unknown to him, the feelings that were running through him were and it made this moment feel like a complete mystery. Shadow looked up and fervor ran through his body as he took in the sight of Amy's bare body. He felt as if he had never known beauty before this. He stood up besides her and pulled down the black shorts that blended in with his dark fur leaving his body as bear as hers.

Both of them stared into each others eyes until Amy leaned in and placed her lips on his. Shadow returned her kiss and pressed his body against hers until he was leaning on top of her on the bed. He could feel the desire that both of them were experiencing for one another and the need to feed their craving for each other only grew larger. He kissed her neck softly and passionately as his hands explored every forbidden curve.

Amy's heart was racing with such intensity that she was sure Shadow could feel it. She was nervous, but everything felt perfect.

Shadow couldn't keep himself from waiting any longer, but he tried to be as gentle as possible as he entered her body for the first time. Amy gasped as she experienced the intense pain, but she relaxed when she felt the strong protective hold Shadow had on her body. He began to push himself in and out of her until their bodies fell into a smooth rhythm. A new tingly sensation traveled up their spines as their bodies rocked back and forth in sync. Nothing in the world mattered to them in this moment.

Amy began to breathe heavily as soft moans escaped her lips. Shadow knew what was about to happen and he held her tightly in his arms as both of them released the tension inside of their bodies. Amy's thoughts scattered all over her mind as her body experienced every ounce of pleasure it could handle.

After both of their senses returned to them slowly, Shadow rolled on his back and Amy followed him to burry her head in his chest. Her hand found his and their fingers locked. Even if it was just for a moment, nothing besides each other existed, not the island, not the Earth, not the moon, and not the stars.

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The pink hedgehog had drifted into sleep on Shadow's chest rather quickly, but he stayed awake. Having her next to him made him feel good in a strange way. He had never experienced any of the feelings he felt when they both gave into each other, but he wasn't sure if he had done the right thing by taking her. He wasn't sure how he felt about her and he couldn't make sense of his feelings.

Shadow's senses began to return to him and he remembered where they were and what was happening around them. He managed to get out of her embrace gently and placed a blanket on to of her bare body before putting his shoes and black shorts back on. The dark hedgehog made his way to the bathroom to splash water on his face as he contemplated a plan to escape the base. He looked over to the clock on a night stand and noticed that the time was 4:12 AM. Dawn was going to creep up on them soon and he didn't know how long it had been since the commander had threatened him. How long did he have left before they caught up to him?

_'I can't let her sleep, I have to wake her.'_

Shadow walked over to Amy and sat by her side. "Amy, wake up. We have to go." He said as he shook her shoulder.

The pink hedgehog yawned as she stretched her arms and legs. She opened her eyes and saw Shadow right next to her. Amy couldn't help but smile as the thoughts of the intimate moment they had shared together flooded her head. A blush appeared on her cheeks as she sat up next to him. She held the blanket he had placed over her close to her chest to cover her naked body.

Shadow noticed the pink color on her cheeks and he had to really push himself to focus on what was going on around them instead of what had happened between them. "We need to leave right now. I need to get you out of here before something happens to me." He told her.

The thought of Shadow being in danger shoved away all of the pleasant thoughts Amy had in her head and her heart dropped. She only managed a nod in return.

The dark hedgehog noticed her change of mood, but he knew it was for the best. They needed to get out of there as soon as they could. He walked back towards the bathroom to give Amy some privacy as she got dressed. Once she was done, he walked back over to her.

"The only way to get out of this building from here is to walk through the hallways. I don't believe the crew has returned from the sea since they haven't found you yet, but there are still a few guards in the building that we have to avoid. You will have to follow my lead." His tone was serious and determined.

Amy nodded. She noticed that he looked to be in much better shape than earlier and the scratches on his face had vanished. "Are you feeling better?" She asked.

Shadow thought about her question. "Surprisingly yes." He answered smoothly.

Amy smiled in return.

"Lets go." He walked towards the door and she followed.

Both hedgehogs made their way through the cold and gray hallways, the pink one following the black one. All of their thoughts about each other and what had happened earlier between them needed to be put away in the back of their heads. Their main focus was to survive this island of horror. Once they had reached the exit Shadow had been looking for, they swiftly made their way out of base and towards the trees surrounding it.

Amy caught a glimpse of the miserable passengers within the fenced area. They looked unhappy and exhausted. She thought about Andy and his dad. "Shadow, we need to help them." She told him as they made their way into the jungle, but he didn't stop. "We have to do it now, while most of the soldiers are away at sea."

"We can't Amy." He said flatly as he continued to walk. The sky above them was beginning to light up by the soon to be expected sun.

She frowned at his response. "We can't be selfish. We need to help them too." She pleaded, but he seemed to ignore her. "Why are you being so selfish?" She asked in an irritated tone.

Shadow stopped in his tracks and turned to face her. His intimidating eyes were as red as ever and her heart almost froze. "How can you call me selfish when I have signed my death sentence for you? I have done everything in my power to keep you safe." There was a hint of anger and annoyance in his voice.

Before Amy could process what he had said, she watched as the black hedgehog collapsed to the ground in pain. Her heart dropped at the sight before her and she kneeled by his side. All her ears could hear was the sound of Shadow's growls as the pain in his head escalated. Everything around her seemed to be happening in slow motion, but she couldn't process any of it. Tears began to flow out of her green eyes as she watched Shadow lose the struggle with the pain in his head. She had no idea what to do or how to help him, but before she could figure anything out, she felt a pair of arms hold her down and grab her from behind.

"Make sure she doesn't get away!" She heard a deep voice bark.

Shadow's growls of pain had disappeared, but he still laid motionless on the ground.

"You two go grab him incase he gets up. I don't want to kill him just yet." The same voice ordered and two GUN officers approached Shadow's body.

Amy was still in shock and trying to understand everything that was going on around her. All she cared about was finding out if Shadow was okay. She looked up to see the source of the voice staring at her. He was a tall man with dark hair and dark eyes. His eyes were cold and soulless. She could tell that he was the man behind everything that was going on in this island. Amy noticed the remote in his hand that was made up of one single switch. She made a connection between the waves of shock Shadow experienced to the remote and noticed how the commander had been torturing him this whole time.

"So, you are Amy Rose." He said in a dominant tone. "I have been looking for you for too long." An evil smirk formed on his face.

Amy just stared back into his soulless eyes. She felt cold all around her.

"I think you and I should get better acquainted." His sickening smirk remained on his face. He looked at the officer that was holding her down. "Take her to my office. And make sure that she can't get away." He turned over to the two soldiers that were holding Shadow down. "Take him back to the interrogation room and tie him up." He ordered before both of the hedgehogs began to get dragged away. Amy knew that there was no point in trying to fight back. She was trapped. Was this the last time she would see Shadow? She thought about the last words he had told her and they rang in her ears.

'_How could I have called him selfish? He has given everything to try to help me instead of himself. Now I don't know if I will ever see him again.'_

Puddles of tears formed in her green eyes as the officer carried her back to hell.


	12. Chapter 12

**This story is now coming to an end, and I think I will only be writing one more chapter after this one. Thank you to those who have been following the story and leaving reviews, it's always wonderful to read them :) **

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Shadow could feel two soldiers dragging him back into the base. The tips of his shoes scratched the ground below him as they took him back to his cell. He remembered hearing the commander's voice earlier and he knew that they had taken Amy. Shadow couldn't wrap his head around the possibilities of what the commander could do to her and thinking about it made him sick to his stomach. He knew he was weak, too weak to fight back. Was it over? Had all they gone through been for nothing? All he wanted was for Amy to not suffer before her gruesome death.

Shadow wasn't the kind of person that tended to look at the positives in a bad situation, but somehow he found himself thinking about how happy he had been with her throughout this journey. He had gotten to know someone that made him feel things he never thought were real. Amy had shown him a different side of him he never even knew existed, but everything would soon come to an end.

He felt his body being dragged up the small set of stairs that led back to the gray cell he had been locked up in only a few hours ago.

"What do you think he's gonna do to her?" One of the soldiers asked the other one as he unlocked the door to the room.

"I have no idea. He's probably gonna rape her and destroy her before he gives her body to the doctors." The other soldier responded.

Shadow felt anger run through him. The idea of Amy getting destroyed in that type of way flared him up inside.

"Yeah tell me about it. I'd like to get a piece of that too before they tear her up." There was a hint of laughter behind his voice and it was enough to make Shadow explode with anger and energy.

The black hedgehog broke lose from their grip and elbowed one of them in their stomach before punching the other on the side of his head and knocking him out. The other officer on the ground tried to catch his breath as Shadow approached him.

"Give me your key." But he just stared back at him in disbelief of his sudden burst of energy. "Now!" Shadow growled causing the officer to react and give him his keys. Shadow picked him up and tossed him against the wall making the officer loss consciousness.

Shadow lost his balance for a moment and almost fell to the ground, but he managed to catch himself. His head was ringing in pain, but he pushed his way out the door and into the cold hallway. The dark hedgehog was stumbling as he made his way down the hall. He stopped and leaned against a wall to rest. He desperately needed a place to sit down and rest for a moment in order to keep going. He decided to take his chances and go inside a door on his left instead of staying in the open hallway. Shadow used the officer's key to unlock the door and stumbled his way inside. The room was dark, but there were many computer monitors that lit up the room just enough for him to make his way to a chair in front of a computer. He pressed his hands against his ringing head to try to calm the pain he felt. He needed to recover fast if he wanted to help Amy, even if it was the last thing he did.

Minutes passed by and his energy seemed to be returning to him slowly. He opened his eyes and looked at the monitors in front of him. Shadow's vision was blurry, but he immediately recognized the room. He was in the main control room that had access to the entire building and the area where the passengers were trapped. He thought about what Amy had last said to him.

_'Selfish. Since when do you care about what people think Shadow?'_

The dark hedgehog knew that Amy wasn't just any person. As much as he disliked admitting it, he knew he cared about her. Shadow got up and began to look through the computer screens in front of him.

_'I can at least give them a chance to fight for their freedom.' _And with that thought in mind, he shut down all of the security systems that surrounded the prisoners. He also locked down all of the rooms that contained weapons within them to keep GUN officers from getting to them and having an unfair advantage. After he had done all of this, Shadow used some of his recovering energy to smash all of the monitors in the room to keep GUN from getting the system back online.

_'She can't say I didn't try to help them now.'_ He thought as he made his way into the hallway to head towards the commander's office.

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Amy couldn't keep track of the things that were going on around her. The officer that had carried her into the room she was in had tied her up onto a chair and left a while ago. She didn't know what to expect. Was she going to get tortured for disobeying? Or were they just going to throw her into a lab to do gruesome experiments on her? She was lost in her mind. She missed him so much.

_'I can't believe those were my last words to him.'_ She thought as another tear departed from her weary eyes.

Amy's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the sliding door opening in front of her. She looked up to see the commander approaching her. "Well well well." He began. "I guess we weren't treating you well enough when you were with us before and so you escaped. How are we treating you now?" He asked as he poured himself a glass of Scotch and sat on top of his desk to look down on Amy.

The pink hedgehog just stared back at him with anger in her look.

"You know, Shadow was my best agent. It's truly going to be a disappointment to have to kill him. He had so much power within him." He said as he sipped his drink.

Amy felt her heart sink at the thought of Shadow getting killed. _'It's all my fault.'_

"So this leads me to ask, who are you? And what did you do to my finest agent?" He asked as he stared into her eyes. His stare made her feel cold. He was in charge, but he didn't own everything around him the way Shadow did with his eyes.

"I'm an old friend." Amy answered quietly.

"Just an old friend, huh? He ruined his career for an old friend?" He asked again as he finished his drink and began to pour himself another.

"Would you like your friend to be grinded up and experimented on? You're sick." She spat at him. "The idea of this whole place is just sick." She was angry. The thought of the fox Michael and his innocent son twirled in her mind.

The commander finished his second drink before getting off of his desk and walking over to Amy. He lifted her chin up with his right hand to look at her closely. "You're a feisty one." He had a wicked smile on his face.

Amy shook her head away from his grip. "Don't touch me." She glared at him.

He chuckled. "You seem to have forgotten that you are my property. And I can do with you as I please." There was a sinister smile on his face. He pulled out a knife from his right boot and pressed the side of it against her neck before running it down her body. "I have been in this island for too long, and you have delayed my plans more than you can imagine. All of my soldiers are out in the sea looking for you. This means I have to stay in this island longer than I should have, and things around here can get pretty…boring. You're going to have to pay for that." He leaned in to kiss her neck and Amy pulled back as far as her chair would let her. He let her go and took a step back. "What do you think?" His dark smirk was still present. He enjoyed making her feel helpless and weak.

"You disgust me." Amy growled at him.

"That's just fine. I can still enjoy myself." He used his knife to cut all of the ropes that held the pink hedgehog against the chair. Amy flinched as she was set free from the chair but then she felt his hand push her back against it. "Don't even think about escaping again." He warned.

The pink hedgehog's exhausted mind was overflowing with anger and she paid no attention to his warning. Instead, Amy swung her right leg up and kicked the commander on the side of the head, but he was too strong and although it hurt, he was not about to lose her again. The petite hedgehog made an attempt to get out of the chair, but the commander picked her up and threw her on the ground.

"Now you really got this party started." His tone was dark and determined.

Amy gasped at the sudden pain she felt when she hit the floor, but it seemed that the worst was yet to come as the commander pinned her down with his body on top of hers and kissed her. She tried to escape his kisses with all her might, but he was just too strong. He began to kiss her neck and in one of those forced kisses he dug his teeth into her fur. She let out a painful cry but it didn't stop him. He enjoyed hearing her cry in pain. One of his hands lifted up her skirt and tears began to pour out of her already puffy eyes. She closed her eyes to keep herself from witnessing everything that was happening around her.

"Please stop!" She pleaded but he only chuckled at her request. "Please." Amy began to sob as she continued to fight his hand off with all of her strength.

Just then, Amy felt the commander get pulled off of her. She opened her eyes to see Shadow in the room. The pink hedgehog scrambled to get on her feet and run towards the wall as far as she could to get away from the commander.

Shadow walked towards him again and punched him in his gut. The commander tried to fight back, but Shadow caught every single one of his fists and sent him flying across the room with the back of his hand. The furious black hedgehog approached him once more with fists in his hands, but before he could reach him he collapse to the ground in pain.

Amy new what the commander was doing to him and she spotted the familiar remote in his hand. The commander stood up and limped towards Shadow as he wiped blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. "You seem to have forgotten that you are still my puppet." He said as he kicked the hedgehog in the stomach.

Shadow's growls of pain were too much for Amy to handle and they were dying off with every second that passed by. She picked up a vase from a bookshelf nearby and charged towards the commander. The pink hedgehog swung the vase at full speed and crashed it against the commander's head making him fall to the ground unconscious. She tried to get a hold of the controller but it had fallen from his hand and was nowhere to be seen. Amy searched for it as Shadow's screams grew fainter until she finally spotted it under the desk. She got a hold of it as fast as she could and flipped off the switch.

Amy shuffled her way over to Shadow's weak body and placed his head on her lap. She ran her delicate fingers through his black and red quills as some of her tears crash landed on him. "Shadow, stay awake. Don't leave me please. I can't do this without you." She cried as she watched him struggle to open his eyes.

A faint smile formed on his lips as he saw her leaning over him. "Don't worry Amy…" He whispered. "You can make it out…of here. I set them free. Go with them." His voice was dying off and she knew he couldn't stay like this much longer.

Amy tried to smile for him. She knew he was referring to the passengers. "Thank you Shadow, but I still need you to stay with me. I don't want to leave here without you." More tears ran down her face and her weak smile faded.

"I almost forgot…the promise I made you." He began. "You were right….the moon can talk…" His voice was really faint now.

Amy began to sob even harder, but she tried to control herself for him. "Wh-what did it tell you?" She smiled.

"Your company….is good for me." He whispered. It was his way of telling her that he enjoyed her company and that he had missed her when they were apart, and she understood. She had gotten to know Shadow's nature well.

"I think your company is good for me too." Amy smiled, but it soon turned into a frown when she saw Shadow's eyes close. "Shadow." She shook him. "Shadow wake up!" She shook him again. She could no longer hear him breathing. "Please Shadow…don't leave me." She began to sob harder than she had before as she held his body close to hers. "Wake up! We have to go!" She yelled into his dark quills as she buried her face within them. "Please don't go. We need to go with the passengers." She whispered as her sobs took over her breathing.

_'The passengers. Michael, he's a doctor! I need to bring him here!'_

Amy got up and took the controller that the commander had used to torture Shadow. She secured it in her boots and ran towards the passengers in search of the fox doctor.


	13. Chapter 13

**I finally finished! I had been so busy lately, I wasn't sure if I was ever going to get this done. I want to thank everyone that stuck with this story until the end. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'm not sure that I will write another anytime soon, but I definitely don't want to stop forever.**

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The X-Tornado flew flawlessly over the blue ocean as the fresh rays of the sun warmed up the morning. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles were all aboard the jet as they made their way to the coordinates the boat containing Amy's head band came from.

"Are we almost there, Tails?" The anxious blue hedgehog asked. "I'm not sure how much longer I can sit still for."

"Yes Sonic." The two-tailed fox answered. "Only a few more minutes."

"Good." Knuckles added in. "I don't want to leave the Master Emerald unguarded for too long."

"You wouldn't have left it unguarded for long if you would've just found a chaos emerald faster instead of taking all night." Sonic said.

"You better just be glad that I was able to find one at all." The red echidna was a bit irritated. He was known to have a short temper. "You can barely handle the two hour plane ride. I would have liked to see you in here for ten straight hours. So instead you should be thanking me." He fought back.

Sonic chuckled at his friend's comment. "Either way, we'll soon get to the bottom of what happened to Amy."

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Amy ran through the cold hallways of the building in search of the exit. She knew the building was empty. Her heart beat was out of control, but she wouldn't dare stop to rest. When she finally found an exit, she ran outside in search of the fenced area. The sound of a high powered jet filled her ears followed by a violent rush of wind.

As Amy approached the passengers, they all looked at her in confusion. They appeared weak and beaten. It was clear that they had been exposed to the sun for quite some time. They had been unaware that the electricity on the fences had been shut down and that the doors were unlocked.

"Michael!" Amy yelled. "Andy!"

Chatter could be heard within the group of passengers and so she had to scream louder.

"Michael!" She raised her voice as much as her burning lungs would let her.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the brown fox and his son approaching the fence to meet her.

"Amy?" He asked in confusion. "Where have you been? What's happening?"

Amy's breathing was heavy, but she tried her best to speak clearly. "The guards are gone for now…the gates are open…everyone can run." She paused to catch her breath. "I need…your help. My friend is hurt, please." Her frail voice was broken by the mandatory breaths her lungs demanded.

"Amy!" The pink hedgehog turned in search of the source of the voice. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles ran towards her from the trees. She couldn't believe her eyes. Were they really there?

Before Amy could question her weak eyes any longer, she saw Sonic disappear from their side followed by him embracing her and spinning her around. She had forgotten all about his speed, and frankly, she had forgotten all about him during the time she had spent with Shadow.

"Ames! You're alive! I'm so happy to see you! We came here as soon as we could in the X-Tornado." He looked at her closely and saw the condition her fragile body was in. He spotted the dry blood that had drained from her neck caused by the commander's bite. "What's going on? What happened to you?" The blue hedgehog asked with a horrified look on his face.

Amy was happy to see him too, but all of her thoughts still revolved around Shadow. Sonic placed Amy down in front of him. "I can't explain right now, Sonic. Shadow needs help, please." He could see how she struggled to catch her breath and spotted tears beginning to form in her eyes. Her eyes were so different from the sparkling emerald gems he remembered.

"Shadow?" Sonic asked in confusion. "He's here too?"

"Sonic I promise I'll tell you everything, but I have to help him." She turned over to look at Michael. "Please come with me. You're a doctor."

Michel nodded in response. He knew he could place his trust in Amy about what was happening around them.

Amy looked back at Sonic as Tails and Knuckles joined them. They could see that Amy had so many things rushing through her head and so they stopped to listen before saying anything. "You guys have to stay here and help the other passengers. The guards might return anytime now. Don't let them hurt the people. These people are innocent. I promise I'll explain everything when I get back." Her breathing was finally returning to its normal cycle.

Sonic nodded and decided not to ask any questions.

"Daddy, it's Sonic!" Andy yelled in excitement as he recognized the blue hedgehog. "He's here to save us!"

The passengers around them began to mumble as they recognized Sonic.

"He's here!"

"He's rescuing us!"

"Sonic is saving us!"

"We're going home!"

The blue hedgehog blushed as people recognized him. They seemed to believe that Sonic had rescued them and gotten rid of the guards.

Amy looked at knuckles. "Can you please make a hole in this fence?" She asked.

Knuckles nodded and stepped forward. "Stand back everyone." He warned before punching a hole through the fence causing the passengers to roar in joy.

"Let's go Michael. Andy will be safe with Sonic." Amy told him.

He nodded and proceeded to follow Amy into the building.

The pink hedgehog led the fox through the cold dim hallways until they finally reached the commander's office where Shadow's body laid motionless. Both of them stepped over the commander's unconscious body to examine Shadow. Michael placed his left ear on the dark hedgehog's chest to listen for any signs of a heartbeat and carefully opened his eyelids to look at his lifeless red eyes.

Amy explained to Michael everything she knew about what they had done to Shadow and he listened as he continued to examine him.

Once he was done he looked at Amy. Her face was pale with worry.

"I can't really say much. I'm not sure whether he is still alive or slowly dying. If he's alive, he won't be for much longer. His body seems to have entered a state of shock or comma and I'm not sure if he can recover from that before his body gives out completely. We have to get him to a hospital as soon as possible." He told her.

Tears departed Amy's eyes, but something shiny caught her attention on the commander's messy desk. There was a silver chaos emerald on a display case. Amy got up and ran towards it to break the case. She knew that they X-Tornado flew faster with more emeralds, and it could take use up to three. She explained this to Michael and both of them carried Shadow's body out of the base.

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Once they were outside, Amy explained a short version of what had been going on in the island to Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Michael. She gave the silver chaos emerald to tails and asked him to take her and Shadow to the hospital in Station Square. Tails agreed and they decided that Sonic and knuckles would stay with the passengers until help arrived.

The X-Tornado was much faster with the second chaos emerald and the trip back to Station Square only took about half an hour. Throughout the ride, Tails had tried to ask Amy more questions about what had happened in the island and how Shadow had gotten hurt, but Amy seemed distant and distracted. Her attention was focused on Shadow and she rarely looked up from his body on her lap.

Once they got to the hospital in Station Square, Shadow was rushed to the emergency room. Amy tried to follow, but the doctors pulled her away into another room to examine her injuries. It was clear to everyone that Amy had been through a lot in the past few days. She handed the doctors the remote that the commander had been using to torture him.

Once her injuries had been cleaned up and taken care of, she was allowed out of the room. They gave her a nutrition bar to eat because it was clear that she hadn't eaten much in a while, but they still wouldn't allow her to see Shadow. So instead, she went to sit by Tails in the waiting room. Her eyes were focused on the white wall in front of her.

"Amy, don't you want to call Cream and tell her you're here?" Tails asked. "She'll be really happy to see you. We all thought you were….you know….dead."

Amy thought about Cream. She had missed her so much. She never thought that she would get the chance to see her dear friend again, but she didn't want to see anyone right now except for Shadow. "Not until I know what's happening with him." Amy answered quietly.

Tails thought it was a bit strange the way Amy was going crazy over the black hedgehog's health. But then again, he couldn't imagine what she had gone through on that island. "You should eat your nutrition bar Amy." Tails told her.

Amy looked down at the bar, but she just couldn't bring herself to eat it. She couldn't feel hunger, not right now.

"You know, if it hadn't been for your red hair band we would've never found you." Tails tried to change the subject. "Sonic could recognize that hair band anywhere."

Amy looked over to her left at Tails. "My hair band?" She asked in a puzzled tone.

"Yeah." He answered. "Sonic and I were at the beach and we saw the boat with the island's coordinates on it. We found your red hair band on it and so we knew you couldn't have died on the plane. That's how we got to the island. How did the boat get here without you?" He asked.

Amy thought about how she had jumped off of the boat to help Shadow when he collapsed in pain for the very first time. He had done what he had set out to do. She could have gotten home safely long ago, but everything would have been wrong. She would have jumped off of the boat for him many times over if she had to. "I jumped off." She told him simply as the memory replayed in her head.

Tails looked confused. "What? Jumped off? Why?" There was disbelief and an endless amount of questioning behind his tone.

"To help him." Amy looked in the direction of the room where Shadow was. A tear made its way down her face.

Tails decided not to ask her anymore questions. He could tell she was suffering inside with every minute that passed by without any news of the dark hedgehog.

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A doctor finally approached Tails and Amy about an hour later and Amy stood up immediately, followed by the two tailed fox. He was an older echidna and his fur was a peculiar tone of light blue.

"Unfortunately, there is not much we can do now." The doctor began making Amy's heart drop. "His body has gone through so much abuse. It's amazing that he is not yet dead. However, he is in a comma. His brain is swollen and there may be a number of different outcomes if his brain is injured. He might not be able to move or he might not remember anything, we just won't know until he wakes up. And that can take months." The doctor sighed. "I'm sorry Miss Rose. We'll just have to monitor his brain and watch what happens in the next few days."

Amy's eyes were wet, but she nodded. There was nothing she could do now. "Can I see him?" She asked in a trembling voice.

The doctor nodded. "Only for a short time." He told her.

"I'll be here when you come back." Tails told Amy before she followed the doctor to Shadow's room.

The doctor opened the door for her and she walked in with her eyes focused on the dark hedgehog that lied motionless on the bed.

"I'll be back for you in about five minutes." He told her before closing the door behind her.

Amy walked towards Shadow with her weak knees and sat on the chair next to his bed. There was a window near the bed that let light into the room. There were all kinds of wires hooked up to his body that lead to a machine near the bed. The machine made a constant beeping sound that represented his faint heartbeat. Amy reached for his gloved hand and squeezed it with her own. Even as he laid there insensibly, there was a sense of power and confidence that reflected off of his body. She scooted her chair closer to his bed and placed her head on his chest on top of the blanket over his body. A tear ran down her face marking a wet spot on the light blue blanket. She knew now more than ever how strong her feelings were about him. There was no way her life could ever be the same without Shadow. Getting to know him had made her feel so complete, and now she felt so empty.

Amy heard the sound of the door opening behind her. "I'm sorry Miss Rose. It's time to go. You may visit tomorrow if you please, but he is in a very delicate state right now." He told her.

The pink hedgehog got up and kissed Shadow's forehead before turning around and leaving the room.

Tails stood up from his chair as he watched Amy approach him. He noticed how miserable she looked, but he had no idea how to comfort her. He hugged her and she hugged him back.  
"Don't worry Amy. They're taking care of him now. He'll be alright." He told her.

Amy only nodded as more tears departed her emerald eyes.

"I'll take you home." He said to her as he walked her out of the hospital.

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The pink hedgehog and two-tailed fox embraced at the entrance of Amy's two story apartment. "Are you sure you don't need me to stay?" Tails asked as they let go of their hug.

"No Tails, thank you. You've done more than enough for me today." Amy's lips formed the weakest of smiles.

"Okay." Tails smiled back. "If you need anything just call. I'll be stopping by at Cream's right now to tell her everything. Sonic, Knuckles, and the other passengers from your flight should be returning here sometime tonight, so you don't have to worry about anything. Everyone is safe. I'll keep the media and news reporters away from you, don't worry." He smiled again.

"Thank you Tails." Amy thanked him again before they hugged good bye once more.

Amy entered her solitary apartment. It felt strange to be alone again, but she didn't want anyone around her. She didn't want to have to pretend to be happy.

The pink hedgehog made her way upstairs and started up her bath. After finding her night gown, she got undressed and stepped into the warm bath tub. Only the sound of the dripping water faucet could be heard throughout her bathroom. She felt like a zombie, cold and empty inside.

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Amy awoke the next morning feeling restless. She had a hard time falling asleep and so she forced herself to take sleeping pills, but even those could only do so much for her. The pink hedgehog went over to her closet and pulled out a white V-neck shirt, fluffy blue skirt, and blue boots. She wasn't in the mood to dress up too much, but the one thing that she was looking forward to was visiting Shadow in the hospital, even if he couldn't see her. Amy made her way downstairs to make herself a coffee.

The doorbell rang and she went to go answer it. Standing behind the door was her best friend Cream.

"Amy!" The bunny snatched the pink hedgehog in a tight hug. "You have no idea how happy I was when I heard the news that you were alright!"

Amy was surprised by her visitor, but it felt good to hug her back. "I'm glad to see you too Cream." Amy smiled faintly. "Come in. Would you like some coffee?" She asked.

"Absolutely!" Cream replied.

Amy made their coffees and both of them sat at the table.

"Tails told me so much. I could hardly believe it until I saw it on the news." Cream said before taking a sip of her warm coffee.

"The news?" Amy questioned. "It's on the news already?"

"Oh yes. It's everywhere. Apparently, GUN claims that they had not approved of such a project and that the island was only for weapon testing. They're saying that the commander in charged of the island made a deal with someone in the black market about carrying out experiments on people for research, but the GUN headquarters say that they had nothing to do with it." Cream explained.

Amy thought about the commander's dark eyes and the way he had tried to take advantage of her. She knew he would have succeeded had it not been for Shadow. She owed everything to him, yet she couldn't help him right now. Amy sighed at the thought.

"What's wrong?" The cream color rabbit asked.

"Oh." Amy came back to her senses. "I just get side tracked. That's all."

"They're all thanking Sonic on the news." Cream smiled.

"Sonic?" Amy asked. "It was Shadow that did pretty much everything. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here. Neither would the passengers." Amy said. There was a hint of annoyance behind her tone.

"Well, you know how out-of-hand the media can get." Cream smiled.

"Yeah you're right." Amy tried to smile back. "I guess it doesn't matter anyways. Shadow doesn't like attention."

"So how is Shadow? Tails told me he wasn't doing so well. I was surprised to find out that he was in the island too." There was a frown on her face. "He also told me that you seemed very…attached…to him. Did something…happen?" Cream didn't want to bombard her friend with too many questions. She had no idea what she had been through.

"Oh." Amy responded. If she could talk to anyone about anything, it was Cream now that they had both matured. "I-uh…we-uh…got to know each other." Amy said awkwardly.

Cream gave her a confused look. "Are we talking about the same Shadow?" She asked. "The Shadow I know doesn't want to get to know anyone."

"Well…he really got to know me." There was something different about Amy's smile. It was real and natural.

Cream noticed her sudden change of mood as she talked about the dark hedgehog. "Oh my Chaos. You mean to tell me that you two…uh…really really really got to know each other?" The curious rabbit asked in a mischievous tone.

Amy knew exactly what she was referring to. "Um…err…yes." Amy's cheeks burned red as she struggled to answer.

There was a display of shock on Cream's face. "What? Really? But when?" She began to ask curiously.

Amy smiled at her friend's curiosity. "Cream I wish I could tell you right now, but I really should go see him. I just feel that I need to be there for him. He was there for me every time I needed him."

"Well, I bet he was." Cream giggled.

Amy blushed and smiled at her friend again. "I would be laughing too if I only knew that everything was going to be okay." She said. The thought of Shadow in such a state brought her mood down again.

Cream understood why Amy had been as melancholy as Tails had described her to be. "Don't worry Amy. Shadow is too strong. He's the ultimate life form." She smiled. "But heck, I'm sure you know all about that." She giggled again.

"Oh Cream!" Amy stuck her tongue out at her. "Walk me out?" She asked.

"Of course!" The rabbit responded.

Both friends put their coffee cups away and made their way out of the door to go on their separate ways.

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Amy couldn't wait to see Shadow, even though he was fighting for his life. Just the feeling of being close to him made her feel alive again. The pink hedgehog rushed to the elevator in the hospital to get to the floor where Shadow was resting. She went up to the nurse on the front desk to check in for visiting.

"Oh. Hello Miss Rose." The receptionist said. "The doctor has asked to see you immediately." She told her.

Amy didn't know how to react to this. Was this bad? But before she could think about it any further she saw the light blue echidna approach her.

"Hi there Miss Rose. Come take a walk with me to Shadow's room please." He told her.

The petite hedgehog swallowed what felt like a big gulp. "Is-is everything alright, doctor?" Amy asked, afraid of what the answer might be.

"Well. I am not too sure myself. I was hoping you could shed some light on this situation." They were standing in front of Shadow's room now. "About 20 minutes ago, one of my assistants told me that the machine that was hooked up to Shadow had completely stopped reading a heart beat. Fearing the worst, my team and I rushed to the room, only to find this." He told her as he opened the room in front of them.

Amy wasn't sure if she was following. The bed where Shadow was resting earlier was completely empty. Then something caught her eye by the bed. The window was open and the curtains were dancing with the wind. "The small remote you handed to us also vanished."

"Where is he?" She asked in a confused tone.

"Well, we were hoping you could tell us that." The doctor calmly confessed.

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Amy left the hospital with large number of question in her head.

_'Where in the world can he be? I thought he was in a comma. Maybe GUN took him and they want to kill him. Or or or maybe he's just fine and walked home. I know he has a house around here. Rouge told me that once. I have to go there. I have to call Rouge.'_

The pink hedgehog rushed herself to a pay phone and dialed the familiar Bat's number.

"_Hello?_" Amy heard Rouge's voice ask at the other end of the phone.

"Rouge. It's Amy. I need some help." Amy confessed.

"_Amy my dear! How are you? Knuckles told me everything. Are you alright?_" The white bat asked.

"Yes I am. I'm fine. I'm calling beca-" She began.

"_Well that's great to hear! What happened? Knuckles doesn't even know everything that went on over there._" Rouge interrupted.

Amy knew her bat friend too well. She loved to get carried away on the phone, but she was on a mission. She needed to find Shadow to make sure he was okay. "Rouge I can't talk much now. I'm sorry, but I promise we'll get in touch later. I need to Kno-"

"_Yes I'm sure coming back from the dead like that must be exhausting. Everyone must be asking you questions!_" She interrupted again.

Amy just gripped the phone tightly to try to keep herself calm. "Rouge I need to know where Shadow's house is." Amy said.

"_Shadow's place? Why in the world would you want to go to his house?_" Rouge asked.

"I'll explain later, but I need to know now. No more questions just tell me." Amy's voice showed a hint of determination.

"_Alright alright. He lives far in the outskirts of the city on the north-east side. His house is the very last one on the hill. It's huge and empty. You can't miss it._" She explained.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you." Amy said happily.

"_Yes, but I have tons of questions for you._" She told her.

"Not right now Rouge, but we will talk again soon. Promise." She replied.

Rouge sighed at the other end of the line. "_Okay Amy. Take care of yourself. We just got you back._"

"I will, you too." Amy replied before hanging up and catching a taxi to Shadow's house.

**XXXXX**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**XXXXX**

Shadow's house was just another disappointment for the pink hedgehog. The house seemed untouched. It was dark and lonely. Amy couldn't help thinking that she had a lot in common with it. After roaming around the outside for endless minutes she decided to head back home to gather her thoughts.

All of the crazy ideas that flooded Amy's head would not settle. The sun had hid itself behind the horizon of Station Square allowing the stars their turn to shine. The petite hedgehog made her way to her bed as she prepared for another long night without sleep. The sheets that surrounded her were smooth and comforting, but it wasn't enough for sleep to take the place of her thoughts.

Suddenly, Amy heard a thump come from the balcony by her sliding glass door across from her bed. The sound made her nerves jump. She sat up slowly, trying to figure out if the noise had only occurred in her head. Instead, her thoughts were answered by three low knocks on the glass door. Her heart dropped to her stomach and her body felt weak with fear.

_'What if it's GUN? Surely they're mad at me for giving them a bad name. Is this how they kidnapped Shadow?' _A million different thoughts filled her head in an instant, but she snapped out of her frozen state when she heard the door shake behind the heavy dark red curtains. The pink hedgehog looked around her room_. 'They're going to force their way inside and there's nowhere to hide and no one to help me.' _Amy was panicking, and she froze as she heard the glass door slide open at last, making the curtains come alive with the wind. She scooted back against the wall by her bed as far as she could and tried to prepare herself for what was about to come.

She watched nervously as the hedgehog she had been longing for emerged from the side of the heavy red curtain. She wasn't sure if she had fallen asleep and was dreaming. But the cold invited into her room by the wind was much too real for a dream.

"Shadow?" Amy asked as she scanned his silhouette in the dark. There was only a small amount of light inside of the room that escaped the curtain's grasp from the sides.

"I thought you'd invite me in since I watched you look for me all around my house, but I guess I was wrong." His tone had a smirk behind it.

"Shadow!" Amy ran up to hug him. Oh how she missed his smell, his fur, his safety, and his body. To her surprise, he hugged her back. His embrace was gentle and soft.

"You have more strength than I remembered. My body isn't back to its full strength just yet." He told her.

Amy knew that he was trying to tell her that her embrace might be too tight for him, but she couldn't resist herself. "I've missed you. More than you could ever know." She whispered. Her eyes were closed as she enjoyed the feeling of his arms around her.

"I guess you can say I'm glad to see you too." He responded. There was a smirk on his face.

Amy smiled. Shadow was always difficult. She had missed his voice just as much. She felt complete again. All the feelings of misery had suddenly vanished, but she was afraid to let Shadow out of her embrace. She didn't want him to suddenly disappear in front of her.

"I'm not going anywhere Amy." He told her. It was as if he could read her thoughts.

"Promise?" Amy asked.

"Promise." Shadow responded.

Amy dropped her arms and took as step back to look at the dark hedgehog in front of her with the small amount of light there was.

"So how are you so well? What happened? Where have you been? And how did you know that I was looking for you?" Amy let many of her thoughts spill into an interrogation.

"So many questions." Shadow let out in a sigh.

"Oh don't tell me about questions. I've been answering all of them while you were happily sleeping. I was worried sick. Now you have to answer mine." Amy put her hands on her hips.

He missed seeing Amy like this. The world around him seemed to stop when she wasn't around.

"I would hardly call it happy sleep." He let out a small chuckle. "Which question would you like me to answer first?"

"Come sit with me." She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards her bed to sit beside her. She looked at him. "Where have you been?" She began.

"Around." He simply replied.

Amy sighed at his response. She knew how Shadow was. She wasn't going to get much out of him with that.

"Then how did you know that I was looking for you at your house?"

"After I left the hospital, I was not in the best state. I slowly made my way to my house. I saw you looking for me, but I didn't approach you."  
"Why not? I was going crazy." She was confused.

"I was too weak. I didn't want you to take me back to the hospital. I knew it wasn't going to help me." He answered.

Amy rolled her eyes. "Really? So you just watched me become sick with worry?"

Shadow smirked slightly. "I needed to wait and recover. I went to the GUN base here afterwards. I confronted them about the island. They claimed to be unaware of what was happening and gave me their word to stay away from you. I agreed to continue working for them as an agent, just as I did before the island. Besides, it was interesting to see how much you wanted to find me." He told her.

Amy blushed and crossed her arms. "Well how are you so well now?" She asked again.

"I told you once that I was stronger than you thought." He looked at his arms to examine them. "I guess I heal at a much faster rate than anyone." He looked at her again. "Anything else?" He asked.

Amy just stared into the shadow of his crimson eyes. They were coming back to life. She remembered how his gaze made her feel weak even when she was at her strongest. "What happens now?" She asked timidly.

"You live your life. Just like before." His voice was softer.

"And you?" She could see how he was beginning to put up his walls.

"I live mine."

Amy sighed. She didn't want him to push her away. Not after she had longed for him so much. She couldn't begin to imagine the feeling of emptiness that would replace the happiness she felt around him. "But I don't want to do that." She confessed and her sight dropped. It was as if she feared his reaction.

Shadow examined her mood with his fiery eyes. He noticed how sad he had made her. He had never cared much for anyone except Maria, but somehow Amy was capable of stirring all kinds of emotions inside of him, some of which he never knew existed.

"Have I made you upset?" He hated getting involved with others, but everything felt so natural.

Amy lifted her head to look at him and tried to avoid feeling of intimidation caused by his gaze. "Shadow I know this is crazy and you may not see things the same way that I do, but I don't think that I could ever go on living life like before. I don't feel like the same person I once was. I feel empty. Except now, when you are with me. The fear of losing you made me go crazy. I can't imagine going through it again. I'm not asking you to be with me forever, I just don't want you to go away." A few tears departed Amy's eyes. She had been afraid to tell him everything.

Shadow listened to every word she said and took a few seconds to gather his thoughts. "I wasn't sure I liked you much at first. You were clumsy, fragile, weak, and awkwardly funny. The exact opposite of what I am. As I got stuck with you, I saw how your clumsiness, fragileness, weakness, and awkwardness worked so well together. Nature put you together so perfectly and I could no longer see a flaw in you. You are the most caring and optimistic person I have ever met and I found that ridiculously annoying. Now I find myself being ridiculously addicted to it. I can't seem to think clearly when I'm around you. My mind is at a constant war with itself when I see you. And it feels as if there is a tornado twirling in my stomach when I talk to you. I have no idea what you've done to me and I wasn't sure I liked it at first, but now I know that I don't want to go away either." Shadow sighed. It felt as if he had lost a battle within himself, but at the same time he felt so liberated. "I guess you can say the moon helped me figure that out." He chuckled.

Amy smiled at his words. She knew his nature all too well and there was not a single thing that she would change about him. She found it strange how open he had been with her, yet how mysterious he still remained. She couldn't help throwing her arms around him in happiness and he went on to hold her in his.

"I guess you were right, I do attract danger." Amy whispered softly in his ear.

Another chuckle escaped Shadow's lips. "I won't let anything happen to you."

Amy smiled as she rested her chin on his shoulder.

"You know." Shadow spoke softly in her ear. "There's another thing about you I found my self addicted to."

Amy tilted her head to meet his crimson orbs. "And what is that?" She happily asked.

"I'll have to show you this one." He whispered before kissing her deeply. The feelings inside of Amy were more alive than ever before. He senses flared and she hungered for every single touch he could give her. The two of them fell on her bed together with Shadow on top of Amy. "With your permission, of course." Amy found his voice sensual, it almost made her melt.

"You know you have it." She said softly. Her breathing was getting heavy.

The two hedgehogs craved one another with every kiss and every touch they shared as they traveled together to a place of love an ecstasy.

**XXXXX**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**XXXXX**

When Amy woke up the next morning she was surprised to find the side of her bed empty, but deep down she knew he would return to her, and he did. Shadow visited her the next night and the night after that. He promised to watch over her and visit her as often as he could if he was not out on a mission for GUN. He also gave Amy the remote that caused him so much pain asking her to guard his life. Amy didn't feel empty in the day, although she longed for the nights when she could see him. He was hers, she was his, and it was perfect.

_The end._


End file.
